The welfare system in France is founded on the principle of solidarity. Solidarity is sense of the responsibility of the individuals in the society to help each other out. This is all for the common good (Spicker). In order to promote solidarity, France has a welfare system that includes universal entitlements, social insurance, means-tested public assistance, and tax expenditures programs. One aspect of the French welfare system is universal entitlements. One universal entitlement under the French welfare system is health insurance. Every citizen in Frances is able to have healthcare insurance. For those citizens that are employed, the employer and employee both finance the insurance. However, the government pays for the health care of the unemployed. In both the case of employed and unemployed, there is no deductible. France’s health care system seems to be working quite well since it is ranked as the best in the world according to the World Health Organization (Capell 2007). Free nursery provision for every child three years and up is another universal entitlement. Once the child is old enough to attend school, an additional universal entitlement is in place. All French citizens receive a free education. This free education does not just end after secondary education. In fact, there are 86 universities in France that are free to attend. (Rochefort). Universal entitlements are just one aspect of the French welfare system. Another component of the welfare system is means-tested public assistance. For just housing alone, there are two types of means-tested public assistances: social housing and mortgage subsidies. There are government owned housing for those in need like lower income citizens. In addition to government housin... ... middle of paper ... ...sinessweeks, Stock Market & Financial Advice. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_28/b4042070.htm (accessed December 6, 2013). Evans, Martin. "New Economy." Means Testing Flaws. www.martin-evans.org/assets/files/MeansTestingFlawsNewEconomy.pdf (accessed December 6, 2013) Rochefort, Harriet. "Facts on Education in France." Education in France. www.understandfrance.org/France/Education. (accessed December 6, 2013) Spicker, Paul. "The Welfare State." An Introduction to Social Policy. http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/publicpolicy/introduction/wstate.htm#France (accessed December 6, 2013). Wingert, Jamie. "Country Case Studies and Links." University of Pittsburgh. http://www.pitt.edu/~heinisch/ca_fran.html (accessed December 6, 2013). 2011. "Making work pay." Economist 399, no. 8738: 60-61. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed December 6, 2013).
This mini-paper will discuss the social welfare system. The mini-paper includes a discussion of welfare Policy, residual and institutional approach, and what is Social Welfare and Social Security. Midgely, (2009), pointed out that social welfare systems deliver services that facilitate and empower our society, especially to those persons who require assistance in meeting their basic human needs. The goal of social welfare is to provide social services to citizens from diverse cultures, and examples include Medicare, Medicaid, and food benefits. Midgley,( 2009).
When speaking about Welfare we try to avoid it, turning welfare into an unacceptable word. In the Article “One Nation On Welfare. Living Your Life On The Dole” by Michael Grunwald, his point is to not just only show but prove to the readers that the word Welfare is not unacceptable or to avoid it but embrace it and take advantage of it. After reading this essay Americans will see the true way of effectively understanding the word welfare, by absorbing his personal experiences, Facts and Statistics, and the repetition Grunwald conveys.
Sanger, Mary Bryna. The Welfare Marketplace: Privatization and Welfare Reform. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2003.
Blau, J. (2004). The dynamics of social welfare policy. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc.
Day P. J., Schiele J. H. (2013) A NEW HISTORY OF SOCIAL WELFARE (7th ed.) Location: United States
In my opinion, social programs are essential to the economic health of both citizens and the country as a whole. Programs such as public education and income support (ex. The GST/HST tax credit for low-income earners) serve as financial equalizers which allow for improved standards of living, and, as a result, increased economic activity. The reasoning behind this is that a more even distribution of wealth results in more consumer spending because money that would otherwise be held in the brokerage accounts of the upper class, for example, are instead used to fulfill the basic needs of the lower class. Additionally, programs such as public healthcare and employment insurance provide financial and psychological stability to citizens and helps to maintain a healthy economy. Although the system can be abused, it does not occur in a majority of cases and I would argue that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.
Welfare programs are an important part of American society. Without any type of American welfare, people will starve, children will not receive the proper education, and people will not receive any medical help simply because they do not have the resources available to them. Each of the three aspects of the American welfare system are unique in their own ways because they are funded differently and the benefits are given to different people. While support for these welfare systems has declined in the more recent years, the support for it when it was created was strong. There are three aspects of the American Welfare System that include social insurance programs, public assistance programs, and private or sector welfare.
Living in the United States most people rely on the government to construct our society to better the people. The gap between rich and poor in our society significantly varies. In America, the government offers special programs to help those who fall below the poverty line. This is well known as welfare. The word welfare comes from a positive definition known as “well-being”, but most Americans would debate that welfare has become a disaster to our society as they increased welfare dependency, illegitimate babies, and family break-ups. In fact I agree with these clams, poverty programs have been abused by many Americans, causing more pressures and strains to American welfare.
The United States is sometimes described as a “reluctant welfare state.” I agree with this statement. Too often there are programs created by our government that, although may be lined with good intentions, end up failing in their main purpose. The government may, and hopefully does, seek to help its citizens. However, by applying unreasonable qualifying or maintenance criteria, or too many restrictions that bar people from even receiving aid at all, they end up with many more problems than solutions. Three examples of policies that do this are: Medicare, No Child Left Behind, and TANF, or the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
Albelda, Randy. “Fallacies of Welfare-to-Work Policies”. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Vol. 577, JSTOR Sept. 2001. 66-78.
Being raised in a single-parent lower class home, I realize first-hand the need for welfare and government assistance programs. I also realize that the system is very complex and can become a crutch to people who become dependent and complacent. As a liberal American I do believe that the government should provide services to the less fortunate and resources to find work. However, as able-bodied citizens we should not become complacent with collecting benefits and it is the government’s job to identify people who take advantage of the system and strip benefits from people who are not making efforts to support themselves independently. I will identify errors that exist within the welfare system and several policy recommendations to implement a change that will counteract the negative conditions that currently exist.
Dolgoff, R. & Feldstein, D. (2003). Understanding social welfare (7th ed). New York, Allen & Bacon
Alcock, P. Erskine, A. and May, M (1998) The Student’s Companion to Social Policy, 2nd Edition, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing
On a fundamental level, welfare is the aid provided for those in need in the form of money or necessities. The six most common forms of welfare include Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Food Stamp Program (FSP), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicaid, housing assistance, and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC); these programs supply the most essential needs of citizens who live without them. In the ethical regard, welfare promotes economic consistency by providing for those who cannot provide for themselves. Without the introduction of welfare programs, there would be an insurmountable economic depression as well as a perpetual population of unemployed, impoverished individuals. The United
There has been a major dispute between selective versus universal benefits in the welfare policy arena. There are advocates who argue that selective benefits are targeted for individuals who are in greatest need and therefore do most to relieve suffering especially those in rural communities. Universalism system is based on the provision of social welfare benefits for all persons through public or private institutions. Programs that are universal are financed through the government and are used to serve everyone at some point in their life without constraints. Universality is a system that do not discriminate by religion, age, race, sexual orientation, class or gender. It is sometimes classified as a re-distributive institutional approach.