Social programs in the United States
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Social programs in the United States are those institutions, supported or managed by the U.S. government, that aim to ensure economic security, universal access to the resources for self-development and the reduction of social suffering, such as poverty and illness.[2] The main guiding philosophy for the creation of the U.S. welfare state has been modern American liberalism, which holds that positive rights, such as health care and education, are requirements for individual liberty.[3][4][5]
The main programs are mandatory and universal primary and secondary education, subsidized college education, unemployment and disability insurance, income subsidies for low wage workers, housing subsidies, food stamps, pensions and health insurance programs that cover public employees. The Social Security system, is the largest and most prominent entitlement program.[1][6]
Currently total social welfare expenditure constitutes roughly 35% of GDP, with purely public expenditure constituting 21%, publicly supported but privately provided welfare services constituting 10% of GDP and purely private services constituting 4% of GDP. This compares to France and Sweden whose welfare spending ranges from 30% to 35% of GDP.[7][8]
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[edit] Analysis
Although the United States has higher income inequality than many European countries, its welfare programs do not engage in as much income redistribution. In 1998, the United States government's expenditures on subsidies and transfers constituted 11 percent of its GDP, whereas the average government expenditures on subsidies and transfers constituted 19% GDP in countries in the European Union(Alesina, Glaeser, Sacerdote (2000)). Many scholars believe that this is because the United States has a lower level of "reciprocal altruism," and that this is in part a result of its ethnic heterogeneity. A history of perceived high income mobility has promoted a normative belief in American culture that the individual who works hard and perseveres will experience a rise in income, and consequently, economic inequality is often viewed as the just cumulative result of varying degrees of personal responsibility [9]. Some recent studies, however, have shown that income mobility in the U.S. is lower than in Europe today. Asian countries such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore have low taxes including a flat income tax; they have low social spending of which very little is categorized as redistribution; all the while income equality is acceptable and income mobility is high.[citation needed]
The American welfare state was designed to address market shortcomings and do what private enterprises cannot or will not do themselves. Unlike welfare states built on social democracy foundations it was not designed to promote a redistribution of political power from capital to labor; nor was it designed to mediate class struggle.[10] Income redistribution, through programs such as the EITC, has been defended on the grounds that the market cannot provide goods and services universally[citation needed], while interventions going beyond transfers are justified by the presence of imperfect information, imperfect competition, incomplete markets, externalities, and the presence of public goods. The welfare state, whether through charitable redistribution or regulation that favors smaller players, is motivated by reciprocal altruism.[2]
The U.S. government generally refrains from intervention beyond the provision of transfers if markets can produce a given good or service efficiently.[citation needed] There does, however, remain considerable debate on whether the U.S. government is intervening sufficiently to address market shortcomings. Some argue that an expansion of the welfare state is desirable because the market cannot or will not satisfactorily ameliorate unjust economic and social inequality. Others argue that the welfare state has grown too large, and a more laissez-faire form of capitalism is desirable.[11]
Unlike in Europe, Christian and Social democracy have not played a major role in shaping welfare policy.[10] Entitlement programs in the U.S. were virtually non-existent until the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the implementation of the New Deal programs in response to the Great Depression. Between 1932 and 1981, modern liberalism dominated U.S. economic policy and the entitlements grew along with American middle class wealth.[12]
[edit] Healthcare
Health care in the United States is provided by many separate legal entities. Health care facilities are largely owned and operated by the private sector. Health insurance in the United States is now primarily provided by the government in the public sector, with 60-65% of healthcare provision and spending coming from programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, the Children's Health Insurance Program, and the Veterans Health Administration.
Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over; to those who are under 65 and are permanently physically disabled or who have a congenital physical disability; or to those who meet other special criteria like the End Stage Reneal Disease program (ESRD). Medicare in the United States somewhat resembles a single-payer health care system but is not. Before Medicare, only 51% of people aged 65 and older had health care coverage, and nearly 30% lived below the federal poverty level.
Medicaid is a health program for certain people and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, and is managed by the states.[13] People served by Medicaid are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents, including low-income adults, their children, and people with certain disabilities. Poverty alone does not necessarily qualify someone for Medicaid. Medicaid is the largest source of funding for medical and health-related services for people with limited income in the United States.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamp Program) is a federal-assistance program that provides assistance to low- and no-income people and families in the form of "food stamps". These food stamps can be used to purchase any prepackaged edible foods at participating retailers.
The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is a program administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides matching funds to states for health insurance to families with children.[14] The program was designed to cover uninsured children in families with incomes that are modest but too high to qualify for Medicaid.
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) is a child nutrition program for healthcare and nutrition of low-income pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and infants and children under the age of five. The eligibility requirement is a family income below 185% of the U.S. Poverty Income Guidelines, but if a person participates in other benefit programs, or has family members who participate in the Food Stamp Program, Medicaid, or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, they automatically meet the eligibility requirements.
[edit] Education
Per capita spending on tertiary education is among the highest in the world[citation needed]. Public education is managed by individual states, municipalities and regional school districts. As in all developed countries, primary and secondary education is free, universal and mandatory. Parents do have the option of home-schooling their children, though some states, such as California (until a 2008 legal ruling overturned this requirement), require parents to obtain teaching credentials before doing so. Experimental programs give lower-income parents the option of using government issued vouchers to send their kids to private rather than public schools in some states/regions.
As of 2007, more than 80% of all primary and secondary students were enrolled in public schools, including 75% of those from households with incomes in the top 5%. Public schools commonly offer after-school programs and the government subsidizes private after school programs, such as the Boys & Girls Club. While pre-school education is subsidized as well, through programs such as Head Start, many Americans still find themselves unable to take advantage of them. Some education critics have therefore proposed creating a comprehensive transfer system to make pre-school education universal, pointing out that the financial returns alone would compensate for the cost.
Tertiary education is not free, but is subsidized by individual states and the federal government. Students may attend public institutions or private institutions. Some of the costs at public institutions is carried by the state.
The government also provides grants, scholarships and subsidized loans to most students. Those who do not qualify for any type of aid, can obtain a government guaranteed loan and tuition can often be deducted from the federal income tax. Despite subsidized attendance cost at public institutions and tax deductions, however, tuition costs have risen at three times the rate of median household income since 1982.[15] In fear that many future Americans might be excluded from tertiary education, progressive Democrats have proposed increasing financial aid and subsidizing an increased share of attendance costs. Some Democratic politicians and political groups have also proposed to make public tertiary education free of charge, i.e. subsidizing 100% of attendance cost.[citation needed]
[edit] General welfare
The Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was a federal assistance program in effect from 1935 to 1996 created by the Social Security Act and administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provided financial assistance to children of single parents or whose families had low or no income.
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) replaced the AFDC in 1996.
[edit] Housing
The Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 created Section 8 housing, the payment of rent assistance to private landlords on behalf of low-income households.
[edit] See also
- European social model
- Great Society
- New Deal
- Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
- State Children's Health Insurance Program
- War on Poverty
- Welfare
- Welfare economics
[edit] References
- ^ a b Krugman, P. (2007). The Conscience of a Liberal. New York: W. W. Norton
- ^ a b Barr, N. (2004). Economics of the Welfare State. New York: Oxford University Press, USA.
- ^ McGowan, J. (2007). American Liberalism: An interpretation for our time. Chapel Hill, NC: North Carolina University Press.
- ^ Starr, P. (2007). Freedom's Power: The true force of liberalism. New York: Basic Books
- ^ Schwartz, J. E. (2005). Freedom Reclaimed: Rediscovering the American vision. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
- ^ Feldstein, M. (2005). Rethinking social insurance. American Economic Review, 95(1), pp. 1-24.
- ^ Alber, J. (1988). Is There a Crisis of the Welfare State? Cross-National Evidence from Europe, North America, and Japan. European Sociological Review, 4(3), 181-207.
- ^ Hacker, J. S. (2002). The Divided Welfare State. New York: Cambridge University Press, USA.
- ^ Stephen J. McNamee & Robert K. Miller (2009) The Meritocracy Myth. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
- ^ a b Esping-Andersen, G. (1991). The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- ^ Behravesh, N. (2008). Spin-Free Economics: A no-nonsense, nonpartisan guide to today's global economic debates. New York: McGraw Hill.
- ^ http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
- ^ Medicaid General Information from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services . (CMS) website
- ^ Sultz, H., & Young, K. Health Care USA Understanding its Organization and Delivery pg. 257
- ^ Lewin, Tamar. "NYT on increase in tuition". The New York Times. http://community.nytimes.com/article/comments/2008/12/03/education/03college.html?permid=51. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
- ^ 2008 Indicators of Welfare Dependence Figure TANF 2.
