Origins And Development Of Social Welfare, Healthcare, Education, And Housing Policies In The United States

The Origins and Development of the Social Welfare System in America

1. The American society has always been sensitive to the poverty issues in the country and the citizens have always contributed to the welfare of the poor. The welfare system before 1935 was mostly private as the people contributed in the form of charity to churches and other social welfare organizations. It was after the Social Security Act was passed in 1935 that the system became centralized and a pan American program.  With time, a number of programs emerged for the welfare of the society (Ringen, 2017). The contributory programs, which were funded by the money, collected as taxes included Medicare and social security schemes. The noncontributory programs were the ones where the beneficiaries did not have to pay in lieu of the services like Temporary Assistance to Needy Families.

2. There has been a constant opposition to the welfare society in America as majority of the Americans feel that the benefits to be given to poverty-stricken are being enjoyed by people who choose to be intentionally poor. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act in 1996 changed the laws from lifetime benefits to providing support for two years at a time and lifetime benefits of five years (Hayden 2015). The shift in the policy allowed the stated to formulate their own slabs regarding the benefits to be given. It also restricted legal immigrants from getting the benefits and stated new work requirements for the benefits. The consecutive governments set the benefits to be 64% noncash and 36% cash benefits reducing the cash load. I think this system is ideal for the people as it supports them while providing welfare opportunities for growth and sustenance.

3. The Social security program is under a threat due to the constantly increasing population and the increase in the population over the decades. Given to the present scenario of growing population and the increasing cost of the Medicare and health facilities it is forecasted to run in deficit from 1934. Similarly, the Medicare facilities face a threat of running short of funds to run continuous operations given to shortage of funds and the increasing costs (Street and Desai 2016). To decease the impending shortfall of cash in the social security schemes the government proposed to cut social security benefits, which was strictly criticized. The supporters emphasize on increasing the tax on the wealthy to reduce problems. Analyzing the current scenario of the social security and the Medicare there is a cause of concern that the country may face serious economic crunch to fulfill these welfare facilities.

Opposition to Welfare Policy in America and The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996

4. America has been a nation priding itself on its education system and the governments since the 1970s have been devising programs for providing unbiased education in the society. The growing financial burden due to the increase in the fees structure of the educations has been a major barrier to the federal government program. The Pells grant which initially paid for the whole college fees of four years now only funds 61% of the total fees. The No Child Left Behind law in 2001 sought to improve the educational conditions for the students of grades three to eight focusing on constant test to evaluate them (Lahaye and Jenkins 2015). The parents also have the right to move their child to a better from a failing school. These policies are greatly criticized as academic administration failure as most of the failing schools serve the needy and impoverished students.

5. The Affordable Care Act ensured the health benefits to all the Americans. The health services are an important factor of discussion in a welfare society. The nonelderly are to be covered by their company for health insurance, seniors by the Medicare and the poor population by the Medicaid. The health insurance provided by the employers proves to be inadequate to meet the demands of the growing healthcare costs in the industry. The government too faces difficulties in devising effective strategies in meeting the requirements of the present healthcare needs of the society (Smith and Medalia 2014). The government seeks to provide reimbursement on the prescription medicine aided by state governments. This move faced a strict criticism from the people as it was friendlier towards the medicine companies than the people.

6. The Obamacare was a strategy devised by Obama to improve the healthcare facilities in the country, which told the citizens to buy health care insurance from the state. The people who would not buy the health insurance would be penalized and the small businesses could buy Medicaid for its employees (Center et al. 2017). This was done to ensure equal and proper health facilities throughout the country. The facility is criticized as it increases the burden of the taxes on the young and the middle class do not get proper healthcare facilities from this service. The poor and the impoverished are the only ones who benefit from Obamacare

7. The housing policy in America first started as Wagner-Steagall National Housing Act of 1937 to improve the condition of people living in overcrowded conditions. The availability of a low rental house is great problem in the USA further enhances by 2008 recession (Lund 2017). The housing boom caused a large number of citizens to take home loans, which they could not afford to repay leading to financial crisis.

8. The different beneficiaries of the social policies are:

• The Elderly: They benefit the most from the social security schemes and the Medicare provided by the Government.
• Middle and Upper Classes: They do not benefit directly from the schemes for the poor but they benefit from the pension and the social security plans, which relieve them from the burden of extra expenses.
• Working Poor: They benefit through some schemes such as ACA, EITC and SNAP but their working conditions do not allow them to afford proper housing facilities.
• Non-Working Poor: The only nonworking poor adults who get complete aid are the people caring for the children. Able-bodied non-working adults are only entitled to food stamps.
• Minorities, Women and Children: Though they hardly get any aid from the government except the women with dependent children, the minorities remain to be poor because of lower pay than an average American (Berliner 2013).

References:

Berliner, D., 2013. Effects of inequality and poverty vs. teachers and schooling on America’s youth. Teachers College Record, 115(12), pp.1-26.

Center, H., Woods, C.A., Urbana-Champaign, I.L., Manchikanti, L. and Purdue Pharma, L.P., 2017. A Critical Analysis of Obamacare: Affordable Care or Insurance for Many and Coverage for Few?. Pain physician, 20, pp.111-138.

Hayden, E.K., 2015. Adjudicating welfare reform in the United States: A study of the impact of the personal responsibility and work opportunity reconciliation act (1996) on welfare rights litigation. Northeastern University.

Lahaye, T. and Jenkins, J.B., 2015. No Child Left Behind. In American Political Fictions (pp. 49-78). Palgrave Macmillan US.

Lund, B., 2017. Understanding housing policy. Policy Press.

Ringen, S., 2017. The possibility of politics: A study in the political economy of the welfare state. Routledge.

Smith, J.C. and Medalia, C., 2014. Health insurance coverage in the United States: 2013. Washington, DC: US Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, Bureau of the Census.

Street, D. and Desai, S., 2016. The US Old Age Welfare State: Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, Medicare, Medicaid. Gerontology: Changes, Challenges, and Solutions, 1, pp.83-110.