16Social Policy

What Is Social Policy?

• Programs that promote a range of public goals:– Ameliorate risk and insecurity– Promote equality of opportunity– Alleviate poverty

• These goals are politically controversial

The Politics of Social Policy• The severity of the Great Depression placed social policy on the political agenda

• Redistributive policies– Shift wealth from one class to another

– It has been derided by critics as “class warfare”

– Usually requires presidential leadership and mass popular support

Foundations of the Social Welfare System: Social Security• Social Security– Contributory program – financed by payroll taxes from its future recipients

– Redistributive in that it transfers wealth from the young to the elderly

• Social Security politics is frequently described as the “third rail” of American politics because so many seniors depend on the program

Public Welfare Programs

Foundations of the Social Welfare System: Medicare• A national health insurance program for the elderly and disabled

• Private health care providers reimbursed by the federal government

• Medicare’s costs are rising dramatically– Health care inflation– More elderly– Prescription drug benefit added in 2003

“Obamacare”

• Popular name for the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

• Requires all Americans to maintain health insurance by 2014

• This so-called “individual mandate” is facing a 2012 US Supreme Court challenge

Foundations of the Social Welfare System• Established in 1930s as Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)

• Means-tested Public Assistance Policy

• A noncontributory program – Assists people based on demonstrated need rather than contributions they have made

Foundations of the Social Welfare System: TANF• Re-named Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) in 1996 welfare reform

• Five-year lifetime limit• States given greater flexibility

Clicker Question

What were the two major social welfare programs to come out of the 1930s?

A.Social SecurityB.MedicareC.Aid to Families with Dependent ChildrenD.Medicaid

Average Monthly AFDC/TANF Caseload

Foundations of the Social Welfare System• Medicaid – Provides medical coverage to low-income Americans

• Supplemental Security Income (SSI) – 1974 program sets national minimum for Social Security

• Food stamps – 1964 program provides food coupons to families in need

Types of Benefits

• In-kind benefit – Goods and services provided to needy individuals and families by the federal government, as contrasted with cash benefits (Example – food stamps)

• Entitlement – The eligibility for benefits by virtue of a category defined by law. Categories can be changed only by legislation

Clicker Question

Which of the following social welfare programs was created to provide health care to the very poor?

A.MedicaidB.Aid to Families with Dependent ChildrenC.MedicareD.Social Security

The Politics of Welfare Reform• The idea of welfare contradicts American traditions of individual hard work

• 1996 welfare reform was followed by steep declines in state welfare rolls

• Welfare reform had little impact on reducing poverty

Arguments Against the Welfare System• Welfare programs are costly and unsustainable

• Third-party payment for Medicare and Medicaid promotes unnecessary healthcare expenses

• Welfare is paternalistic. More should be left to individual initiative

Arguments Against the Welfare System• Welfare creates a moral hazard, incentivizing poverty

• Welfare removes the burden on employers to pay a living wage

The Increasing Cost of Entitlement Programs

Arguments For the Welfare System• Welfare stabilizes the economy by maintaining consumer spending during economic downturns

• Programs such as Social Security provide a safety net for employers and employees

• Welfare programs create social stability by protecting individuals from capitalism’s harshest outcomes

Arguments For the Welfare System• Welfare programs remove moral judgment from poverty

• Welfare programs are politically necessary and help to enhance social stability

How Can Government Create Opportunity?

• Education has been the single most important factor in determining upward mobility

• Historically limited role for the federal government

Growth of the Welfare System

Recent Education Reforms

• No Child Left Behind Act (2002)– Federally mandated testing in math and reading for grades 3–8

– Measure driven by desire for greater accountability

– Some freedom for states in implementation

• Problems with implementation

Other Education Reforms: School Choice• School vouchers – Public money available for parents to spend on either public or private schools

• Charter schools – Publicly funded schools run independently of district rules and regulations

Who Is Poor? What Government Can Do

• African Americans, Latinos, and single mothers tend to be disproportionately poor

• Disadvantaged groups pressure government for antipoverty programs

• Antipoverty programs sometimes run counter to “rugged individualism”

Clicker Question

The No Child Left Behind Act:

A.requires the creation of charter schools.B.establishes voucher programs for public schools.C.requires testing in math and reading for grades three through eight.D.requires testing in science and math for all K–12 grades.