Showing papers on "Disability insurance published in 1978"

The social security crisis: an international dilemma

Abstract: Social security systems throughout the world are in a dilemma. The over-expansion of the sixties has compounded the current recession's unemployment and other problems and created an “ideal” system difficult for the economically depressed countries to alter. Older workers are particularly hard hit during recessions. They are often pressured into retirement, with no financial or career alternatives, in an attempt to free up jobs for younger and hard-to-place workers. Many schemes have been devised to compensate older workers for their losses: high unemployment compensation, partial unemployment benefits and a liberal interpretation of disability insurance and other assistance programmes not specifically designed for the elderly. The author exposes many proposals for altering social security but concludes that most schemes have not yet been implemented. While international economic recovery would surely heal the ailing systems, the author contends there are remedial measures, largely ignored at present, that could be taken to soothe the systems' wounds.

The Deserving Sick: Income-Maintenance Policy Towards the Ill and Disabled

Abstract: Illness and disability often result in a serious loss of income. Government response to this problem has been piecemeal, so that there is a patchwork of different programs, some state and some federal, covering particular types of medical disabilities and particular categories of people. This article briefly describes existing programs and then evaluates income-maintenance policy towards the ill and disabled using four broad criteria: clarity of objectives, adequacy of coverage, adequacy of benefits, and equity. The general findings are that extreme program fragmentation in this policy area have led to competing (and sometimes inconsistent) objectives, large gaps in population coverage, benefit levels that do not meet even minimal standards, and tremendous inequities across different programs. Recommendations for improvement include the development of a more workable definition of disability and development of a guaranteed minimum income plan in conjuction with supplementary disability insurance plans.

The Impossible Dream: The Nationalization of Welfare? A Look at Disability Insurance & State Influence over the Federal Government

Abstract: Rising welfare rolls have led some students and practitioners to suggest that more efficient administration will curb welfare costs and provide greater uniformity in decisions concerning eligibility. In order to insure strict standards in the administration, the disability insurance program enacted in 1956 relegated the responsibility of determining eligibility to the states, expecting that they would expend benefits less liberally than the national government. This article shows that the administration by states has had at best a nominal impact upon rising costs and uniformity of eligibility decisions. Moreover, their analysis leads the authors to conclude, first, that the states continue to be a potent force in American federalism and, second, that people in need will apply for and receive benefits regardless of the program's nature or its administering agency.