social welfare program

social welfare program, any of a variety of governmental programs designed to protect citizens from the economic risks and insecurities of life. The most common types of programs provide benefits to the elderly or retired, the sick or invalid, dependent survivors, mothers, the unemployed, the work-injured, and families. Methods of financing and administration and the scope of coverage and benefits vary widely among countries.

The earliest modern social welfare laws were enacted in Germany in the 1880s. As similar programs have been adopted in other countries, the trend has been toward more comprehensive coverage in terms of both eligibility requirements and the nature of the risks insured against. A floor of minimum protection has come to be viewed as one of government’s general responsibilities with respect to specific risks, and in many countries the consensus holds that public responsibility extends to all those unable to care for themselves for whatever reason. In this view social welfare is extended and received as a matter of right rather than of need.

The chief characteristics of a welfare or security program are the risks to be protected against, the population covered, eligibility criteria, levels of benefits, manner of financing, and administrative procedures. All these criteria are subject to wide variation in practice. In particular, eligibility criteria often include a “time-lock,” which requires participation in or coverage by a program for a specified time. Financing is generally accomplished by exacting contributions from covered persons, employers, or both, by the government out of general revenues, or by a combination of the two. The most common varieties of programs may be summarized as follows:

Old-age, invalidity, and survivor programs. These provide benefits to those who live beyond their ability or eligibility to engage in gainful employment, to those who become permanently disabled other than through work injuries and who are not covered under some other medical disability program, and to those who are left dependent by a deceased worker. Programs of this type usually provide for universal coverage; they are commonly funded as contributory insurance programs. Time-lock provisions apply to old-age benefits and, less stringently, to invalidity and survivor benefits. Benefits levels are typically 30 to 60 percent of base wages. The plans are administered nationally.

These are the most complex and controversial of welfare and security programs. Benefits may include indemnification for lost wages in addition to medical treatment. Coverage ranges from universal down to only those employed by participating employers. Financing may be contributory or governmental, depending in particular upon the method of providing service in a given country. Medical care may be provided by private practitioners and suppliers or by departments of government organized to provide it; private practitioners may be paid directly by the government or by the patient, who is then reimbursed by the government. With varying degrees of public involvement in the actual provision of health care come degrees of choice by the patient, of permanence in patient–physician relations, of incentive to hold down costs, of regularity in physicians’ incomes, and of ease of administration.

These are common in industrialized countries, less so in developing countries. They usually provide 50 to 75 percent of base wages to workers who are normally employed and have become unemployed through no fault of their own and who are willing and able to work. Benefits are provided for limited periods and are financed typically from compulsory insurance payments made by employers or employees or both, sometimes supplemented by government funds.

These are benefits provided by governments to families with a specified minimum number of children. The benefits may be open to all families, in which case the program is a step in the direction of a guaranteed family income, or they may be provided as supplements to other assistance, especially unemployment benefits.

This is the oldest and most widespread social welfare program. Such programs usually cover all employees of firms above a specified size and are financed by employer contributions to some form of insurance plan. Benefits include medical payments, wage restoration (usually from 50 to 75 percent of actual wage), special indemnities for permanent bodily injury, and death benefits. Acceptance of work-injury or worker’s compensation benefits precludes recovery of damages by suits at law.

This is a residual program designed to provide assistance to various classes of needy persons not covered by other programs. Typical classes of beneficiaries include the aged not covered by the employment-related programs mentioned above, the blind, the disabled not covered by work-injury or other employment-related programs, and impoverished families with dependent children.