Welfare reforms (Term Paper Sample)

WELFARE REFORM
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Introduction
Welfare reforms are concerned with reducing poverty and decreasing the disparity between the poor and the rich (Jeff, Lynn, and Jeff 2009). It aims at increasing the opportunities for the poor to have a better life as compared to the Rich. Many countries have welfare systems that offer social support and minimum level of human well-being. There are social policies intended to enable social reforms. Some have been enacted into laws while others remain as just policies without legal backing. These policies touch the area of economic affairs, environment, health, education, government operation, social welfare, foreign affairs, culture and society, and on criminal justice.
The huge poverty caused by unemployment, lack of education, disability and old age forces people to crime. The crime rate increases with increased poverty. The tension increases between the rich and the poor. Huge economic disparity in any country raises concern to the national safety and security. It is, therefore, a concern of any responsible government, to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor by formulating social policies that address poverty in different levels and capacities (Elizabeth, 2012).
Welfare reforms
Countries like United States of America, United Kingdom, Brazil, Canada, and Denmark among others have different social welfare policies and with different implementation procedures. In the United States, the social programs were designed to assist the low income earners and those with special needs. The Great Depression of 1930s pushed the introduction of social welfare (Jeff, Lynn, and Jeff 2009). It was started by the proposals from president Theodore Roosevelt programs on social welfare. It had varying eligibility needs and implemented at different levels in the federal, states, local and private institutions. There were various efforts to provide healthcare, education, food, shelter and money to the United States citizens. This was done through disability, and unemployment insurance, subsidies for housing, pensions schemes, health insurance policies, subsidies in education, subsidies for the lower wage workers, and Nutritional supplements and assistant.
The 1960s welfare reformed was based on elderly, disabled and the woman headed families. These include giving food subsidies and Medicare. Welfare Reform Act of 1996 changed the welfare programme from open –ended, to finite program that was intended to offer jobs quickly, and short-term money assistant. In the same year, Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act were passes by Congress which gave the states more control on welfare programs (Elizabeth, 2012). The states offered assistant in areas of health care, child care, food assistant, unemployment, and housing assistant. The federal government started offering a flat rate to different states depending on the population. The 2013 Affordable Care Act was passed with subsidized medical insurance and increased Medicaid. The welfare programs have transformed with the changing individual and families needs. The population increase and the unpredictable economic situation have exposed many individuals and families to poverty. The welfare reforms have demanded huge and huger budgets with changing times.
The welfare reform programs in the US offer a distinction between social insurance and public assistant. The social insurance offer little restrictions and include middle-class and the working population. The public assistant is more restricted and is dependent on the need of the beneficiaries, who are mostly poor. American welfare reform is decentralized and depends on philanthropic and charitable organizations. The issues of the effective implementation methodology are another concern for the welfare reforms in the US. Most who graduate from the labour initiates programs has little skills to get meaningful employment elsewhere. The availability of adequate funding and facilities raise questions with the critics of the welfare reform program in the United States.
Social security has programs like the Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance, for old people, Retirement Insurance Benefit for the retired, and the Unemployment insurance for those who lose their jobs among others. There are also programs like the Supplemental Security Income for low- income people, Children’s health insurance program, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program among others (United States. Accounting Office, 2011). These are all programs under the welfare reforms in the United States.
The issues of the conditional or unconditional assistance are one that raises controversy. U.S welfare reforms are heavily controlled by the government, and this leave a query as to which method is more effective in reducing poverty. There is also the issue of the length of the welfare program, where most remain anchored to short term goals as opposed to the long term goals. The other pertinent issue is on the components of the social welfare, with criticism the taxing of the program monies or benefits.
The social welfare policies and implementation methodologies have succeeded and failed in varying degree (Jeff, Lynn, and Jeff 2009). The government intervention in social welfare was necessitated by many factors that were either interrelated or independent from each other. The unemployment, poverty, poor health, low education levels, single parenthood, old age, and hunger among others were the reasons for the government involvement. These issued raised insecurity, tension, and hate between the different social classes causing both national and international security concern.
The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWOA) was one of the moves by the federal government in welfare reform (Elizabeth, 2012). It tried to solve the unemployment to the poor and increased the cash support to the needy from the government. This was the move by the government to reduce the crime rates due to the high rates of unemployment and poverty. Poverty could be reduced in many ways that proved effective in the implementation of PRWOA and included thing like tax adjustments, job creation, and social transfer among others.
The goal of the government in the social welfare program was to ensure self sufficiency. These allowed many individuals who had lived under the poverty line, to improve their conditions in a longer term. Creating individuals who are self sufficient helped in reaching even a greater population of the poor and the needy by the government. The government reduced the poverty levels and these decreased crime and other antisocial activities.
The government intervention also sought to create a sense of responsibility to the individuals. The sense of being responsible would push the individual to working hard and the desire to succeed (Elizabeth, 2012). Those under the program were needed to work before the government assistance. These increased the government workload and those working for community. The government also sought to increase the desire for the low-skilled to increase their skills.
The social disparity had caused a vicious unemployment circle for a section of the population in the United States. The government looked ways to break this cycle by creating jobs, helping these population gain skills, and this put them in a better chance to get jobs in the future. The families would also get money to educate their children, putting them in employable position.
The government intervention into the social reform could be seen to help the deserving poor have the minimum basic needs (United States. Congress. House. Committee on Ways and Means. Subcommittee on Human Resources, 2005). The government was to assist those with disabilities, those who were single mothers, the old and other groups of people with special needs with money assistance. These allowed this group of people, who could not work, enjoy the same level of life as the rest of the population. These allowed for a better living conditions and reduction of poverty.
Before the 1996 act on welfare reforms, there was a lot and continued of dependant on government assistance (Jeff, Lynn, and Jeff 2009). The previous welfare reforms offered no initiative to get those who depended on the government a way to be self sufficient and financially independent. The policy makers wanted to find a way to address this continued government dependant and the 1996 act offered to move from dependent to work. The creation of the programme to allow the lower in the society to work first before government assistance allowed the goal of work to be achieved. There was also a limit to the number of years; one could be in the programme. After five, years, the government support was to be withdrawn, and these forced the beneficiary to seek ways to be independent and responsible.
There was the goal of helping the deserving needy that could not be put in the work programme. PRWORA Act of the 1996 created Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF) replacing Aid to Families with Dependent Children (United States. Accounting Office, 2011). It also replaced Emergency Assistance and Jobs Opportunity and Basic Skills programmes. This necessary needy were entitled to support from the government but on a time limit.
The other goal was to reduce poverty and reach more needy families and individuals in the country. The aim of creating self-sufficiency to individuals in the welfare program, an...