Social Welfare Policy
Introduction
One of the things that define the United States is its social welfare policy, best defined as a range of services and activities by governmental agencies, non-profit organizations, and volunteers helping (mostly) the needy and the vulnerable to care for themselves. In light of these, it is impossible to talk about social welfare in the US without talking about three subjects: Medicaid, Social Security, and Medicare. Medicaid is a state and federal program designed to assist some people with limited resources and income pay for medical services. Medicare is a federal health insurance program primarily providing health insurance to US citizens 65 years or older and for some disabled young people (determined by the Social Security Administration), and for persons with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and end-stage renal disease. Social Security, on the other hand, is rather broad, best described as the foundation of economic security for most Americans. Unlike company pensions, workers pay Social Security tax, and the money is remitted to beneficiaries as monthly income. As is expected, these programs are not devoid of problems, as has Medicaid with eligibility and payments (improper payments) in the recent past.
Medicare
Medicare, currently under the administration of the CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) was started under the SSA (Social Security Administration) in 1966. The 2019 Medicare Trustees Report reported that in 2018, more than 59.9 million people received health insurance from Medicare. Currently, Medicare takes care of about 50% of healthcare services for those registered; this is according to the government’s MedPAC group and annual reports from Medicare Trustees. Much of the uncovered cost is almost always covered by enrollees by joining Medicare’s public Part C or D plans, or seeking additional insurance privately. Speaking of plans, Medicare has four parts: A, B, C, and D. Part A covers hospice services, skilled nursing (not for custodial care, but only after formal admission into a hospital for three days), and hospital (formally admitted inpatient only). Part B takes care of outpatient services including most prescription drugs (professionally administered), most provider office visits (including an office inside a hospital), outpatient hospital charges, and some services by providers while inpatient (at a hospital). Part D often covers self-administered prescription drugs. Part C is an option known as Medicare Advantage or Managed Medicare which gives patients a choice of taking plans with at least a similar service coverage as Parts B and A, usually the advantages of Part D, and often an OOP (out-of-pocket) spend limit absent in B and A. As such, a beneficiary cannot sign up for Part C before enrolling in Parts B and A.
Social Security
Social Security is alternatively referred to as OASDI (Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) and is under the SSA’s (Social Security Administration) jurisdiction. The initial Social Security Act was enacted by the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration in 1935. The current, amended version, consists of a number of social insurance and social welfare programs. Social Security gets its funds primarily from FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) tax, or payroll taxes, SECA (Self Employed Contributions Act) tax. The IRS (Internal Revenue Service) collects tax deposits and formally entrusts it to the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund. Government securities are then purchased by these two trust funds, which then use the income interest to fund the amounts allocated monthly to eligible citizens. Except in a few special cases, all salaried income must be taxed by the Social Security payroll tax, up to a specific amount decided by law. Currently, all legal, working residents of the United States, except for a few, have a personal Social Security Number.
Getting a Social Security number is voluntary for children. In addition, unless a person must or wants to work, it is not a mandatory legal requirement to join the Social Security Program. SECA or FICA taxes, under normal circumstances, are typically collected on all wages. There is certainly no way of avoiding the SECA or FICA taxes except, maybe, by joining a religion such as Christian Science or the Amish, which do not believe in insurance, or a religion whose subscribers have taken a vow of poverty [cite].
Medicaid
Medicaid is described by the Health Insurance Association of America as a national insurance program for people of all ages whose resources and income are not sufficient to cover the cost of healthcare [cite]. The program (so far means-tested) is funded jointly by the federal government and state governments but under the states’ management. The decision of eligibility is currently the responsibility of the states. Recipients of Medicaid have to be citizens of the United States, or eligible non-citizens, and can encompass people with specific disabilities and adults with low income and their children. Poverty, by itself, does not necessarily make a person eligible for Medicaid. Research proposes that Medicaid improves health care coverage inclusion, admittance to medical care, beneficiaries’ budgetary security, and some wellbeing results, just as gives monetary advantages to states and wellbeing suppliers.
Current Issues with Medicaid
As mentioned earlier, Medicaid has been having problems lately with eligibility and improper payments. Reviews have shown that a lot of tax money is currently being incorrectly spent on non-medical funding or on ineligible patients. In 2018, the GAO reported that the federal government had spent more than 10% of its Medicaid expenditures improperly. Besides, there gave off an impression of being a purposeful exertion by the Obama organization to choose to disregard what was happening in state Medicaid programs following the start of Medicaid development under Obamacare. Besides, late exploration claims that the Obama organization’s dismissal for yearly Medicaid reviews may have created a gigantic spike in ineligible enlistment. According to an examination distributed in the National Bureau of Economic Research, states that extended Medicaid have far higher paces of ineligible Medicaid enrollees than states that didn’t.
The solution is to get the health care system to improve in the opposite direction. A reasonable way is to introduce Medicaid block grants. These would bring various helpful results for states and the central government. To start with, states would have more control and adaptability over how their Medicaid dollars are spent. Numerous government limitations right now utilized in Medicaid limit the admittance to and interest of suppliers. Second, states could offer plans that are more customized to the individual wellbeing needs of Medicaid patients.
Conclusion
Social welfare is one of the things that make the US what it is. With services such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, the government attempts to make healthcare and other social services for all its citizen, although sometimes problems are encountered in the provision of these services, such as the eligibility and payment problems surrounding Medicaid in the recent past.