Comparison of the British welfare system with the Swedish and American welfare systems - Essay Example

?Comparison of the British Welfare System with the Swedish and American welfare systems. Introduction: A Welfare is one where the bears responsibility for ensuring the welfare of its citizens. This welfare includes within it elements like social security, education, health and guaranteeing a minimum standards of living for the citizens of the state [ R Mishra,2000]. The idea of Welfare is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of the wealth of the society and public responsibility for citizen groups that are in some ways in need of support from the state. The objective of this assignment is to compare the welfare systems of Britain, Sweden and United States of America and to draw an appropriate statement of hypothesis from this comparison. Comparative Method: The five main comparative methods for comparing welfare systems are (Deborah Mitchell, 1991) are: 1) Comparison of inputs which compares the resources that go into the welfare system. 2) Comparison of policy which compares the policy behind the welfare systems. 3) Comparison of production which compares the delivery of the benefits and services. 4) Comparison of operations which compares the detailed operations of the welfare system. 5) Comparison of outcomes which compares the impact of the welfare systems on the citizens. Out of the above methods of comparing the different welfare systems, I have chosen the comparison of outcomes method to compare the welfare system in Britain with those of the welfare systems in Sweden and United Kingdom. The welfare systems will be compared based on their outcomes or affects on the life of the citizens. Comparison of the welfare systems of Britain, United States and Sweden: Welfare states usually are modeled along three types. In the first type the welfare system directs the resources of the state to only those groups that are most in need. In such a type of welfare system there is a strong control and interference of bureaucracy. The second type of welfare state is one in which the welfare support is provided for all the citizens who fulfill certain established criteria like say having children etc. Such a welfare state has minimal bureaucratic interference. It relies on higher taxation for providing the welfare support to its citizens .The third type of Welfare state is one in which a certain level of welfare support is guaranteed for all the citizens. Such a type of Welfare system is similar to the one found in Great Britain currently [J Dreze, A Sen, 1989]. The objective of this paper is to compare the British Welfare system with the Swedish welfare system and the United States welfare system. The Swedish state follows the Nordic model of welfare system. The three pillars of the modern Nordic welfare system are: social security, health care and free education. The welfare system in Sweden is more universal as it provides coverage to almost all the citizens of the Swedish state. The British Welfare state is on the other hand modeled along the lines of Beveridge model. In the Beveridge model the welfare system focuses on those with greater need [ H Wilensky, 1975]. Social security is a social insurance program which provides social protection or protection from socially recognized adverse conditions like poverty, old age, physical or mental disability, unemployment et al. The coverage under the British welfare system has become extensive over the years but benefits and services provided are at low levels. The social security is provided in Britain through five main types which are: social insurance, means-tested benefits, non-contributory benefits, universal benefits and discretionary benefits. The Swedish healthcare system is closely linked to social insurance. This means that everyone who works and lives in Sweden enjoys access to heavily subsidized health care services. The philosophy guiding the United States welfare system is modern liberalism. Modern liberalism holds that positive rights like healthcare and education are requirements for individual liberty. The Social security system of United States encompasses most of the social security programs of the American welfare state. The Social Security program of the American welfare system is the largest government welfare program in the world. The American welfare system differs, from those in Britain and Sweden, in its extensive reliance on the private sector. There is also lack of universal income support and universal health insurance in the American welfare system. The costs of the American social insurance are jointly borne by the employees, employers and the government. The Social security system covers all American citizens. Every American citizen enjoys access to the public Medicare health insurance on attaining the age of 65. The two social groups impacted by the welfare system that I am going to compare are: adults with disabilities, impairments and chronic conditions and lone or single parents. Under the American welfare system, disabled persons of every age group enjoy the access to public Medicare health insurance if they receive Social Security Disability Insurance benefits [J Dreze, A Sen, 1989]. Social security Disability Insurance (SSDI ) is a federal insurance program of the United States welfare system. The Social Security Disability Insurance program provides income supplement to citizens suffering from such physical disabilities that restrict their ability to be suitability employed [ P Flora, A Heidenheimer, 1982]. Some of the welfare benefits that citizens suffering from physical disability enjoy in Britain are: Retirement pension ( about 49% of the disabled citizens receive it) ; council tax benefits ( around 38% receive it ); income support ( 26% of the UK citizens suffering from physical disability receive it ); incapacity benefit ( 20% receive it ); Disability living allowance mobility component ( 14 % receive them ) and Disability living allowance care component ( 11% receive them ). About 90% of the disabled British citizens receive some form of welfare support from the state. For disabled groups, the welfare system in Sweden provides the National Disability Insurance. The national disability insurance program of the Swedish Welfare system provides cash support, heavily subsidized health care and other long term life long benefits to disabled adults and adults suffering from chronic conditions [ G Esping Andersen, 1990]. Lonely parents avail of the social security benefits in the British welfare system. Seven in ten lone parents in Britain currently get income support through the means-tested safety net benefits of the British welfare system. Means tested benefits are for low income British citizens. The American welfare system provides support to lone parents only if certain conditions are satisfied. It provides support to lone parents with disabled children. Low income parents of disabled children receive state support in the form of Aids to Families with Dependent children (AFDC) and Social Security Income (SSI ). But the channel of the American welfare system that has been most effective in supporting the lone parents is the access to healthcare through the government health insurance scheme (Medicaid) that comes with both AFDC and SSI. Lone parents receiving AFDC in the American welfare system are also eligible for food stamps and numerous other benefits like job training. The Swedish welfare system considers lone parent families as good enough families. The Swedish welfare system aims at reducing the differences in the standards of living between the children raised in single parent families and those rose in two-parent families. Single parent families in Sweden receive housing benefits. The housing benefits are means-tested. Housing benefits play an important part to the housing costs of the lone parents in Sweden. The social security system in Sweden also grants income support to lone parents in the event when the other income options of the single parents are exhausted [R Mishra, 2000]. Lone parents are also provided many cash benefits in Sweden. Cash benefits play a very important role in lone parent households in Sweden. The average share of social cash benefits is 41 percent in lone parent households and only 16% in two-parent families. The dependency of lone parents on state support and on means-tested support is particularly high in Sweden. Sweden, therefore, has quite generous child support packages for single-parent families compared to two-parent families. One channel of American welfare system that greatly benefits the lone parent families is the channel of state support for education. Primary and secondary education are free, universal and mandatory in United States. In some states and regions low income lone parents enjoy the option to use government issued vouchers to send their children to private schools rather than to public schools. Tertiary education is not free but is highly subsidized in United States. The majority of the burden of tertiary education costs in most states is borne by the state. For instance in the state of California, the state bears almost 70% of the costs of the tertiary education of a student. The community colleges have the lowest fees of all tertiary institutions. The educational support by the welfare system has been the most effective in providing support to the low income single parents in United States. Critical Evaluation: Now in terms of patterns, the Swedish welfare system is most generous towards both the groups : adults with disabilities, impairments and chronic conditions and the lone parents group. The American welfare system seems to be the least generous towards lone parents group because it provides healthcare and other benefits to lone parents with disabled children only. The British welfare system falls in between the two. The American welfare system, the British welfare system and the Swedish welfare are similar in that the welfare systems of all three of them focus on the three key areas which are: social security, education and healthcare. The differences between the three welfare systems lie in the extent of their coverage and the approach of policy making towards welfare systems. When it comes to the extent of coverage and support to the chosen groups (lone parents and adults with disabilities and chronic conditions) in particular and to the citizens in general, the Swedish welfare system is much better than the British and American welfare systems. The three principle elements on which the British welfare system rests are (Briggs, 1961) : 1) A guarantee of minimum standards of living for the British citizens. This includes the provision for providing a minimum level of income for the British citizens. 2) Social protection for all British citizens in the event of any kind of social insecurity. 3) The provision of services like healthcare at the best possible standards. The quality of services and benefits delivered under the British welfare system is not that high. The National Insurance accounts for about half of the total expenditure on social security in the British social welfare system. However it is failing to provide extensive coverage to the whole British population. As a result of this, the dependency on means-tested benefits and basic benefits ( Income support ) has increased over the years. The American welfare system stands out from British and Swedish welfare systems in its greater reliance on the private sector for generating resources for the welfare system. The Human Development Index ( HDI ) is a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education and standards of living for countries worldwide. The welfare system in a country seems to have a direct bearing on the human development in that country. In terms of comparison of outcomes, I would rate the Swedish welfare system as the best. In the group of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) group, Sweden has the highest level of spending on social security. Sweden has succeeded in continuously scoring at the top of the Human Development Index. It scored above United States and Britain in both 2008 and 2009. However in 2010 , United States scored above Sweden in the human development index table. Britain meanwhile has scored much lower than both Britain and Sweden in terms of human development index. In the year 2010, Britain was placed 26th in the Human Development Index table while United States was placed fourth and Sweden was placed 9th. Hypothesis statement: From the above comparison, I can make out the following single statement of hypothesis. Countries with more effective welfare systems score better on parameters of human development index and therefore have better human resources. These parameters of human development index are life expectancy, literacy, education and standards of living. The better human resources are more productive. The higher productivity of the human resources raises the productivity of the national economy. Detractors of welfare systems and social system overlook this positive impact of welfare systems on the productivity of the national economy as a whole. Noble laureate Paul Krugman says that in the long run productivity is everything. Conclusion: I will conclude with the satisfaction that I have made all possible efforts so that I could succeed in achieving the objectives of this essay. At the end of this essay, I feel certain that I have fairly succeeded in achieving the objectives that were laid at the beginning of this essay. I have done a comparison of the welfare systems of Britain, Sweden and United States of America. I have drawn a hypothesis from this analysis that is supported by empirical evidence. The learning on this assignment relates to my degree course. It has enhanced my learning and understanding of the subjects of my degree course. References: R Mishra, 2000, Globalization and the welfare state, Macmillan. D Mitchell, 1991, Income transfers in ten welfare states, Avebury P Flora, A Heidenheimer, 1982, The development of welfare states in Europe and America, Transaction Books. J Dreze, A Sen, 1989, Hunger and public action, Clarendon Press. A Briggs, 1961, The Welfare State in historical perspective, European Journal of Sociology. S Ringen, 1989, The possibility of politics, Clarendon Press. H Wilensky, 1975, The welfare state and equality, University of California Press. G Klass, 1985, Explaining America and the welfare state, British Journal of Political Science. G Esping Andersen, 1990, The three worlds of welfare capitalism, Polity. Word count ( including references ): 2321 Read More