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welfare statewelfare state US?Many Americans wouldn’t call their own country a “welfare statewelfare state” because of some of the negative connotations the term “welfare” has in American English. AmericaAmerica’s pioneer cultureculture with the emphasis on individual achievement and on privately organized charities and church support has always been suspicious of government organized programs. It was only when the middle classmiddle classes began to be affected by risks like unemployment and poverty caused by long term illnesses – risks that other Western countries protect their citizens from through welfare programs – that Americans began to see an increased role of the government as helpful and at times even necessary. And Americans tend to want to get rid of welfare programs that don’t work as effectively as Americans think they should. They also don’t like programs that might be seen as encouraging too much reliance on government. Although the RepublicanRepublican party usually propagates as little government funding as possible for social programs and the Democratic partyDemocratic party sees itself more in favor of government support for those in need, social programs were expanded greatly under the Republican administrations of NixonNixon, Richard and ReaganReagan, Ronald and cut under Clinton’s Democratic administration. Clinton won partly by promising to “end welfare as we know it” when the programs begun under Johnson a generation before became unpopular with large numbers of Americans. Confusing? Not even the Americans themselves are always sure about exactly what role the government should play in providing social services, and they’ve been changing their minds again and again.

a bit of history[88]If we wanted to go back to the rootsroots of the welfare statewelfare state in GermanyGermany, we’d have to go back more than a century to BismarckBismarck. But it was only during the Great DepressionGreat Depression that the American attitude towards the role of the government in providing services like unemployment and retirement benefits changed. Remember Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt’s Square DealSquare Deal, government programs designed to restrict the powerpower of the captains of industrycaptains of industry in their attempt to amass wealth and influence? And the New DealNew Deal that another Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, introduced? ( 2) FDRRoosevelt, Franklin Delano (FDR)FDR see also Roosevelt, Franklin Delano set up government agencies, many of them acronyms with three letters, which became known as the alphabet agenciesalphabet agencies – perhaps appropriate for a presidentpresident whose name was also made up of three letters. A few of the agencies have survived until today like the FCAFarm Credit Administration (FCA) (Farm Credit Administration), the FCCFederal Communications Commission (FCC) (Federal Communications Commission), and the TVATVA see Tennessee Valley Authority (Tennessee Valley AuthorityTennessee Valley Authority (TVA)).

Most relevant for our topic is the Social SecuritySocial Security AdministrationSocial Security Administration (SSA) (SSA), which ever since the New DealNew Deal has provided government funding for Americans who retire after working many years and also includes unemployment benefits, now collectively known as Social Security. The debate about the future of Social Security, especially about the future of payments to retired people, has intensified in recent years. As in most other industrialized countries but because of the numbers of younger immigrantsimmigrants not to the same degree, the US is faced with an ageing population that’s living longer than any generation in the past. Predictions are that the money collected for Social Security through taxes on income (similar to the system in GermanyGermany) will not meet the needs of those who retire or qualify for benefits. Some politicians are calling for partial privatization of the system in spite of the huge financial problems an unregulated financial system has caused in the US. Other possible reforms include raising the age when people can begin getting retirement benefits to 70 or having richer people pay more into the system.

health care for a Great SocietyGreat SocietySome of the benefits of the New DealNew Deal of the 30s and 40s were expanded during President Lyndon B. JohnsonJohnson, Lyndon B. (LBJ)’s (who was also known by his three initials LBJLBJ see Johnson, Lyndon B.) administration in the 60s, especially health care. In what came to be known as the Great SocietyGreat Society, Johnson introduced unprecedented government programs to eliminate poverty and racial injustice in a time of economic prosperity. Also important for our topic here, Johnson also expanded [89]the Social SecuritySocial Security program first initiated by FDRRoosevelt, Franklin Delano (FDR)FDR see also Roosevelt, Franklin Delano in his New Deal to include government-funded health care with (unfortunately for foreign students of AmericaAmerica) very similar-sounding names: MedicareMedicare and MedicaidMedicaid. Medicare provides federal funds for the health costs of all Americans over the age of 65. Medicaid provides federal and state funds for the health costs for some Americans with low incomes under the age of 65. Since Medicaid is administered by the states individually, eligibility requirements vary from state to state. Here again we can see the importance and powerpower of the individual states within the federal system of American government, as we’ve already seen in the issues of abortionabortion, capital punishmentcapital punishment, and gun controlgun control. Both Medicare and Medicaid are faced with the same problem that confronts Social Security – rapidly increased spending because of demographics – in addition to the fast-growing expense of medical treatment.

health insurancehealth insurance overall and for all?As with the issue of the right to possess guns, critically analyzed in Bowling for ColumbineBowling for Columbine, another of Michael MooreMoore, Michael’s documentary films presents an intensely critical view of AmericaAmerica’s health care system that many Europeans or Germans might sympathize with. His 2007 film SickoSicko sharply criticizes the lack of American health care for all and claims the health care system in CanadaCanada, the UK, and FranceFrance is much better. But it’s important to remember that Moore’s criticism is also something typically American – and typically optimistic: the belief that a more perfect union (to use the ungrammatical expression of the Founding FathersFounding Fathers in the Preamble to the ConstitutionConstitution) – or better health care, less crime, more just punishment, and an answer to when life begins – is possible. The underlying question has always been about the degree to which government should limit the risk of citizens losing their jobs, getting sick, retiring poor compared to the degree to which the individual alone should be responsible for dealing with these risks. In general the RepublicanRepublican party regards health care as a private matter while Democrats are in favor of government supported insurance for everybody. The Democrat Hillary ClintonClinton, Hillary tried unsuccessfully as First Lady to persuade CongressCongress to pass legislation to reform health care and mandate health insurancehealth insurance for all Americans, pointing to the United States as the only industrialized nation that doesn’t provide universal health care. (Her husband President Bill ClintonClinton, Bill was instrumental in changing the welfare system as we heard above.) Although [90]Hillary Clinton’s plan failed in the early 90s, she made the issue one of the most important in the presidential campaign of 2008. And two years into his first term, President Barack ObamaObama, Barack signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) into law. The long name of the act details the content: Americans are guaranteed a right to affordable insurance regardless of previous health conditions. How Americans are supposed to actually apply and receive affordable insurance under the PPACA is even more complicated than the clumsy name partly because of the complicated division of federal and state supervision of the program. Opponents to the PPACA named it Obamacare to indicate their intense criticism of what they saw as ineffective and unconstitutional. Obama himself adopted the name in his 2012 presidential campaign, thus changing the insult into a badge of pride. The US Supreme CourtSupreme Court has repeatedly ruled that Obamacare is constitutional, and the percentage of uninsured Americans has since plummeted to below 10 % in 2015 according to some statistics. In spite of criticism and resistance above all by the Republican Party, it seems that Obamacare as the biggest change to the American welfare system since the creation of MedicareMedicare and MedicaidMedicaid in the mid 1960s will remain a part of the 21^st century American social welfare system long after the Obama administration becomes history.

from a New DealNew Deal to a New New Deal in the USThe degree to which government is involved has shifted ever since the Great DepressionGreat Depression and will no doubt remain an intense matter of debate for all Americans. BismarckBismarck’s social legislation provided many of the same benefits that half a century later FDRRoosevelt, Franklin Delano (FDR)FDR see also Roosevelt, Franklin Delano’s New DealNew Deal would contain. It took the catastrophic effects of the Great Depression to start a revolution in American attitudes towards self-reliance and the role of the government in the lives of ordinary citizens. More than half a century afterwards, another presidentpresident, Barack ObamaObama, Barack, brought back the spirit of the New Deal. Even the term “New Deal,” used in Britain in the late 90s to name government programs intended to increase employment, was sometimes modified to “New New Deal” to indicate not only economic and social programs but also government policy towards the environment ( 9) during the two Obama administrations.