social insurance

Examples of social insurance in the following topics:

• Social Insurance

  • Social insurance differs from welfare in that the beneficiary's contributions to the program are taken into account.
  • Medicare is an example of a social insurance program, while Medicaid is an example of a welfare one.
  • In the United States, Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance are among the most well-known forms of social insurance.
  • Social Security in the U.S. is primarily the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) federal insurance program.
  • Social Security is one of the best-known social insurance programs in the United States.

• The Elderly

  • Within the United States, senior citizens are at the center of several social policy issues, most prominently Social Security and Medicare.
  • Social security is a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors' benefits.
  • Roosevelt's "New Deal. " Social Security is currently the largest social welfare program in the United States, constituting 37% of government expenditure and 7% of GDP.
  • In 1965, Congress created Medicare under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide health insurance to people age 65 and older, regardless of income or medical history.
  • Thus, it has a somewhat different social role from for-profit private insurers, which manage their risk portfolio by adjusting their pricing according to perceived risk.

• Income Security Policy and Policy Making

  • While assistance is often in the form of financial payments, those eligible for social welfare can usually access health and educational services free of charge.
  • The amount of support is enough to cover basic needs and eligibility is often subject to a comprehensive and complex assessment of an applicant's social and financial situation.
  • Some schemes are based on the discretion of an official, such as a social worker.
  • Adverse selection causes profit maximizing private insurance agencies to set high premiums for the insurance because there is a high likelihood they will have to make payments to the policyholder.
  • High premiums exclude many individuals who otherwise might purchase the insurance.

• Standard Benefits

  • Medical, prescription, vision and dental plans - Particularly in countries with poor social benefits, medical insurance is a requisite for hiring full-time talent (sometimes even legally required).
  • In socially supportive countries, these benefits are provided by the government as a basic need.
  • These individuals are covered under group health insurance plans for that given employee.
  • Group-term life and long term care insurance plans - Life insurance and long-term care are benefits paid by employers to insure individuals against various types of risks and disasters.
  • Employees with life insurance or long-term care insurance will see their dependents (and themselves, in the case of long-term care) supported if a serious ailment or tragedy occurs.

• Current Issues in Health Care

  • There are also social welfare programs such as Medicaid and Medicare.
  • The insurers negotiate rates with hospitals for different procedures.
  • This results in insurers refusing to insure these patients.
  • Antitrust: Previously, insurance companies were immune to antitrust laws.
  • The ACA will only work if both healthy and sick people alike buy insurance: if the healthy choose to pay the fine for not having insurance and only the sick buy insurance, then costs will increase.

• Gender Inequality in Health Care

  • More women than men are insured in the United States.
  • Gender discrimination in health care manifests primarily as the amount of money one pays for insurance premiums—the amount paid per month in order to be covered by insurance.
  • This is largely due to regulations of private insurance companies.
  • Fewer than ten state governments prohibit gender discrimination in insurance premiums.
  • Instead, insurance coverage of contraception was framed as a government subsidy for sexual activity.This framing revealed inherent social inequalities for women in the domain of sexual health.

• Physical Health

  • Social determinants of health are the economic and social conditions that influence individual and group differences in health status.
  • Many social scientists hypothesize that the higher rate of illness among those with low SES can be attributed to environmental hazards.
  • For many employees who do not have health insurance benefits through their job, the cost of insurance can be prohibitive.
  • Without insurance, or with inadequate insurance, the cost of healthcare can be extremely high.
  • The largest group of insured Americans consists of middle and upper class employees who receive health insurance through employers.

• Health Insurance

  • Health insurance is insurance against the risk of incurring personal medical expenses.
  • Health insurance is insurance against the risk of incurring personal medical expenses.
  • Two types of health insurance exist in modern society, private health insurance and publicly funded health insurance.
  • A deductible is the amount that an insured individual must pay out-of-pocket before the health insurer pays its share.
  • The second, the social model, focuses on changes that can be made in society and in people's lifestyles to make the population healthier.

• Health Care in the U.S.

  • Healthcare in the United States is provided by separate legal entities, often private facilities with governmental insurance for citizens.
  • The U.S. system is primarily one of private insurance, with governmental insurance provided for citizens on the healthcare fringe.
  • Some Americans who do not qualify for government-provided health insurance are not provided health insurance by an employer, and are unable to afford, cannot qualify for, or choose not to purchase private health insurance.
  • This image shows the income distribution of Americans who did not have health insurance coverage in 2007.
  • Census Bureau's Current Population Survey in 2008 and the 2009 Annual Social and Economic Supplements–-available here (page 21).

• The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

  • The FDIC promotes public confidence in the United States financial system by insuring depositors for at least $250,000 per insured bank.
  • Since the start of FDIC insurance on January 1, 1934, no depositor has lost a single cent of insured funds as a result of a failure.
  • The FDIC receives no Congressional appropriations; it is funded by premiums that banks and thrift institutions pay for deposit insurance coverage and from earnings on investments in U.S.
  • The FDIC insures more than $7 trillion of deposits in U.S. banks and thrifts—deposits in virtually every bank and thrift in the country .
  • Public FIs can also utilize specific regulations to reallocate portfolios in ways that are deemed to be financially sound and socially beneficial.