POLS 2320 Final Exam Review

public assistance

A term that refers to social welfare programs funded through general tax revenues and available only to the financially needy. Eligibility for such a program is established by a means test.

entitlement programs

Any of a number of individual-benefit programs, such as social security, that require government to provide a designated benefit to any person who meets the legally defined criteria for eligibility.

poverty line

As defined by the federal government, the annual cost of a thrifty food budget for an urban family of four, multiplied by three to allow also for the cost of housing, clothes, and other expenses. Families below the poverty line are considered poor and are eligible for certain forms of public assistance.

social insurance

Social welfare programs based on the "insurance" concept, requiring that individuals pay into the program in order to be eligible to receive funds from it. An example is social security for retired people.

equality of opportunity

The idea that all individuals should be given an equal chance to succeed on their own.

means test

The requirement that applicants for public assistance must demonstrate that they are poor in order to be eligible for the assistance.

Unemployment insurance

another example of a social insurance program. It is a joint federal-state program. Benefits and eligibility conditions vary from state to state.

Social welfare programs

are designed to reward and foster self-reliance or, when this is not possible, to provide benefits only to those individuals who are truly in need. U.S. welfare policy is not based on the assumption that every citizen has a right to material security.

The balance between economic equality and individualism tilts more heavily toward

individualism in the United States than in other advanced industrialized democracies.

Medicare

enacted in 1965, provides medical assistance to retirees and is funded primarily through payroll taxes. Public support for the program is generally high.

Public assistance programs are funded through

general tax revenues and are available only to the financially needy. Eligibility is established by a means test. Americans are far less supportive of public assistance programs than they are of social insurance programs.

Public assistance programs, in contrast, are funded by

general tax revenues and are targeted toward needy individuals and families.

The main social insurance program

is social security for retirees.

Social insurance programs are funded by

payroll taxes paid by potential recipients, who, in this sense, earn the benefits they later receive. Because of this arrangement, social insurance programs have broad public support.

Social Security and Medicare are funded nearly entirely from

payroll taxes, with current workers paying for the benefits of recipients. Since the ratio of workers to recipients is dropping, reforms will be needed to keep these programs solvent for the long term.

Medicaid

provides health care for public assistance recipients. About 60 percent of Medicaid funding is provided by the federal government and about 40 percent by the states. More than 40 million people receive Medicaid.

entitlement program

requires the payment of benefits to any citizen who meets the criteria of eligibility. Social insurance programs are one type of entitlement.

Individual-benefit programs (entitlements) fall into two broad categories:

social insurance and public assistance. The former includes programs such as social security for retired workers and Medicare for the elderly.

Social insurance benefits are disbursed to

those who paid special payroll taxes when they were employed.

Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)

was an entitlement program that assisted poor families, most of whom were fatherless due to death, divorce, or abandonment. The program was unpopular because beneficiaries were perceived as both dependent on the system and irresponsible. The situation changed significantly with the passage of the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, in which the AFDC was eliminated and replaced by Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), which gives federal block grants to states to assist the needy and get them into jobs.