scholarly journals The program is perfect

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
The United States ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Narcotics Anonymous ◽  
Social Safety Net ◽  
The Social ◽  
Group Members ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Life Course

This article examines Narcotics Anonymous (NA) membership in two ways: how blame for failure is displaced from the ‘perfect’ organizational program and onto the individual addict working to remain sober and how this displacement is accompanied by notions of individual responsibility and work. These discourses illustrate the influence of a neoliberal outlook on the life course among ‘clean’ NA members, particularly as the social safety net in the United States has been systematically reduced and replaced by a system that focuses attention on personal responsibility. I show how NA’s ideological approach blinds group members and the larger public to the complexity of addiction, turning addicts who struggle with recovery into failures, through internalized ideological trajectories that root responsibility in the self while discounting context.

Taking the Long View: COVID-19 Priorities for the Biden Administration

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandro Galea ◽  
Catherine K. Ettman ◽  
Nason Maani ◽  
Salma M. Abdalla
Keyword(s):  
Safety Net ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Safety Net ◽  
Health Decision Making ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
National Conversation ◽  
The Social ◽  
National Response ◽  
Health Decision ◽  
Policy Priority

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic transformed the American political landscape, influencing the course of the 2020 election and creating an urgent policy priority for the new administration. “The Biden-Harris plan to beat COVID-19” represents a practicable, technically competent, plan to contain the pandemic, one that will serve the country well in the months ahead. We suggest that the United States would also benefit from an even bolder set of aspirations—reframing of the national conversation on COVID-19, embedding equity in all health decision making, strengthening the social safety net, and changing how we talk about health—as part of the national response to COVID-19. This would represent a genuine step forward in our approach to health, informed by the systemic flaws COVID-19 exposed, and realize benefits from the pandemic moment that would propel national health forward for the rest of the century.

Checks

Paid ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Servon
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Government ◽  
Social Safety Net ◽  
Older Americans ◽  
Retirement System ◽  
The Social ◽  
Security Checks ◽  
Security Check

In 1940, the first monthly Social Security payment in the form of a paper check was issued. Social Security was established by the United States government as a universal retirement system for workers. The Social Security check became a symbol of the social safety net for older Americans, and the relation of that safety to a lifetime of compulsory productivity. Over the years, there has been much innovation in the physical properties of Social Security checks, as well the systems that produce, distribute, and cash them. The Social Security, check, however, will soon become a thing of the past. With or without their cooperation, recipients are being transitioned to electronic direct deposit systems.

What is the actual prevalence of medical bankruptcies?

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (12) ◽  
pp. 1284-1299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald D. Hackney ◽  
Daniel Friesner ◽  
Erica H. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Social Safety Net ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health Event ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Medical Bills ◽  
Actual Prevalence

Purpose Medical bankruptcies occur when an individual experiences an acute or chronic health event, and the costs of care exceed the individual’s ability to pay. In such cases, the individual typically files for bankruptcy. There is an extensive literature that estimates the prevalence of medical bankruptcy, but studies either select a population whose medical care is extremely expensive or chooses ad hoc thresholds for medical bankruptcy categorizations. In both cases, the prevalence of medical bankruptcy is biased. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the actual prevalence of medical bankruptcies in a manner that avoids these limitations. Design/methodology/approach Data are randomly drawn from a single US Bankruptcy Court district. Following the literature, an ad hoc threshold of medical debts which places the bankruptcy filer “at risk” for a medical bankruptcy is postulated. Misclassification analyses are used to estimate the likelihood of a medical bankruptcy filing while adjusting for the use of ad hoc thresholds. Findings The naive prevalence of medical bankruptcy is 23.1 percent, but exceeds 50 percent when accounting for misclassification. Many individuals are “ostensibly” medically bankrupt. They are already seriously indebted, and any outside financial shock, including but not limited to medical bills, can push these debtors into insolvency. Originality/value Bankruptcy is an important social safety net. An improved understanding of the types and magnitudes of medical debts which precipitate a bankruptcy filing can lead to policies that improve outcomes for bankruptcy filers and reduce the social costs of bankruptcy.

scholarly journals Using Behavioural Insights to Argue for a Stronger Social Safety Net: Beyond Libertarian Paternalism

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
KATHERINE CURCHIN
Keyword(s):  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Libertarian Paternalism ◽  
Social Safety Net ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Behavioural Insights ◽  
The Social ◽  
Behavioural Research ◽  
Behavioural Sciences ◽  
Poverty Point

AbstractInsights from experimental research in the behavioural sciences offer a powerful impetus to reject the new paternalist approach to social policy. The findings from psychology, behavioural economics and behavioural finance, concerning decision-making by people experiencing poverty, point to the importance of alleviating material hardship by improving the social safety net, rather than trying to remedy the character of individuals through welfare conditionality. Thus far, the behavioural sciences’ usefulness as an intellectual weapon against punitive welfare reform has been underappreciated. This is partly due to underappreciation of the considerable contrast between the libertarian paternalism advocated by some behavioural scientists, which provides a rationale for governments to nudge citizens, and Lawrence Mead's new paternalism, which emphasises the personal responsibility of the poor for their circumstances. More importantly the disproportionate attention given to nudge has inhibited recognition that the behavioural research on poverty can be used to argue for more ambitious policy approaches which seek to transform behaviour in more ethical ways.

The U.S. Welfare State Is Minimal

2021 ◽  
pp. 99-105
Author(s):  
Mark Robert Rank ◽  
Lawrence M. Eppard ◽  
Heather E. Bullock
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Safety Net ◽  
Welfare Benefits ◽  
The Social ◽  
Welfare Expenditures ◽  
The U.S

Chapter 13 examines the size of the social safety net in the United States. Compared with European and other OECD countries, the United States has a fairly small safety net. The amount spent is approximately 2 percent of our GDP. In particular, programs aimed at protecting children from poverty are minimal. These programs have also been reduced over time, especially since the 1996 welfare reform changes. Challenging the myth of the bloated welfare state requires tackling multiple intersecting misperceptions, including erroneous portrayals of U.S. welfare expenditures as exorbitant and low-income programs as driving up the national debt. It will also require shattering myths that legitimize keeping welfare benefits low.

Work, Family, and Community: A Framework for Fighting Poverty

2019 ◽  
Vol 686 (1) ◽  
pp. 340-351
Author(s):  
Angela Rachidi ◽  
Robert Doar
Keyword(s):  
Safety Net ◽  
The United States ◽  
Material Hardship ◽  
Social Safety Net ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
Support Employment ◽  
Individual Program ◽  
Work Family

The contributions to this volume make clear that the social safety net in the United States is large, complex, and robust. In this reflection, we offer insights into the adequacy of the existing safety net to reduce material hardship and meet the future challenges facing this nation. Our perspective is broad and moves from the effects of each individual program covered in this volume to the safety net’s function as a whole and its relation to employment and earnings. We offer a framework for reform that we believe should guide policy-makers and analysts moving forward, and we comment on challenges and potential solutions offered in this collection of work. We conclude with some suggestions for how the safety net can better support employment as the cornerstone of an antipoverty agenda and, by extension, help to build strong families and communities. With this framework in mind, we challenge the next generation of social safety net reformers to reconsider the structure of the social safety net, so it is focused on work, strong families, and vibrant communities.

Most Americans Will Experience Poverty

2021 ◽  
pp. 9-16
Author(s):  
Mark Robert Rank ◽  
Lawrence M. Eppard ◽  
Heather E. Bullock
Keyword(s):  
Panel Study ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Assistance ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Social Safety Net ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Poor Children

Chapter 2 reviews the life course research on the risk of experiencing poverty. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), the majority of Americans will at some time during their adulthood experience a spell of poverty. Furthermore, 10 percent of children spend at least half of their childhood living in poverty. Many Americans will also turn to a social safety net program for economic assistance. The implications of this research are discussed, which include understanding poverty as a structural rather than an individual failure. Shoring up safety net programs and investing in poor children and families can be a long-term financially sound strategy for the United States.

Introduction: Reforming US Welfare Again and Again

2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Walker ◽  
Michael Wiseman
Keyword(s):  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Social Safety Net ◽  
Policy Regime ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Usa

In 1996, the USA became the first major democracy to eliminate individual entitlement to the social safety net. The reforms introduced in the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Reconciliation Act are briefly outlined in this editorial article, which, drawing on the papers assembled in this themed section, considers the consequences of the legislation, both positive and negative, and seeks to explain why the new policy regime seems likely to prove resilient.

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