OfTheCross
Veteran
In this paper, I propose a series of moderate reforms to major welfare programs including Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, Unemployment Insurance, and Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. The overall purpose of these proposed reforms is to move towards a welfare state that is simpler, more coherent, and more centralized.
After the reforms in the paper are implemented, every elderly, disabled, and unemployed adult will receive public health insurance from a consolidated Medicare program as well as an earnings-related cash benefit or a minimum cash benefit equal to the one-person federal poverty line. Every individual in need of long term services and supports will be eligible to receive benefits from Medicaid regardless of their income or assets. SSI for disabled children will become a universal SSDI allowance for disabled children. The SSI program and most of the Medicare savings programs will be eliminated. And SNAP will become a full-blown negative income tax based solely on a family’s gross income.
Due to these changes, billions of pages of paperwork currently dedicated to recording income, assets, and expenses of households will be eliminated. Hundreds of state-level SNAP and UI programs will also be eliminated as the programs are centralized into the Social Security Administration.
How to Fix Our Existing Welfare State
