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Social Work May 1996
Topics: Cost Control; Health Services Needs and Demand; Humans; Public Assistance; Public Housing; Social Work; United States
PubMed: 8936080
DOI: No ID Found -
Revue de La Societe Francaise... Dec 2006
Topics: Economics, Hospital; France; History, 16th Century; Politics; Public Assistance
PubMed: 17575852
DOI: No ID Found -
International Journal of Health... 2015Universal health coverage (UHC) is today a dominant issue in the global health policy debate. The hegemonic proposal is UHC that recommends universal health insurance...
Universal health coverage (UHC) is today a dominant issue in the global health policy debate. The hegemonic proposal is UHC that recommends universal health insurance with an explicit service package and a payer-provider split with public and private managers. The Mexican Popular Health Insurance (PHI) is widely presented as a UHC success case to be followed. This article reviews critically its achievements after a decade of implementation. It shows that universal coverage has not been reached and about 30 million Mexicans are uninsured. Access to needed services is quite limited for PHI affiliates given the restrictions of the service package, which excludes common high-cost diseases, and the lack of health facilities. Public health expenditure has increased 0.36 percent of Gross National Product, favoring the PHI at the expense of public social security. These funds are, however, lower than legal specifications and the service package under-priced. Private health expenditure as a percentage of total expenditure has not varied much and PHI affiliates' out-of-pocket payment is larger than the whole PHI budget. There is no evidence of health impact. The Mexican health reform corresponds to neoclassic-neoliberal reorganization of society on the market principle. Although some of the PHI problems are particular to Mexico, it illustrates some of the overall flaws of the UHC model.
Topics: Health Care Reform; Health Services Accessibility; Humans; Mexico; Public Assistance; Quality of Health Care; Universal Health Insurance
PubMed: 26460450
DOI: 10.2190/HS.45.1.h -
BMC Public Health Jul 2012Long-term recipients of social assistance face barriers to social and economic inclusion, and have poorer health and more limited opportunities for improving their...
BACKGROUND
Long-term recipients of social assistance face barriers to social and economic inclusion, and have poorer health and more limited opportunities for improving their health than many other groups in the population. During recent decades there have been changes in Swedish social policy, with cutbacks in public benefits and a re-emphasis on means-tested policies. In this context, it is important to investigate the necessary conditions for social workers to offer social assistance and services, as well as the mediating role of social workers between public policies and their clients. Swedish social services aim to promote social inclusion by strengthening the individual's own resources. We investigated the issues that arise when providing social services to long-term social assistance clients within the framework of resilience, which focuses on the processes leading to positive functioning in adverse conditions.
METHODS
Interviews were conducted with 23 social workers in Stockholm and analysed by qualitative content analysis.
RESULTS
The main theme to emerge from the interviews concerned the constraints that the social workers faced in providing social services to social assistance clients. The first subtheme focused on dilemmas in the interaction between social workers and clients resulting from the dual role of exercising authority and supporting and building trust with clients. Working conditions of social workers also played a crucial role. The second subtheme addressed the impact of the societal context, such as labour market opportunities and coordination between authorities.
CONCLUSIONS
Overall, we found that social workers to a great extent tried to find individual solutions to structural problems. To provide resilience-enhancing social services to long-term social assistance clients with varying obstacles and needs requires a constructive working environment, supportive societal structures and inter-sectoral cooperation between different authorities.
Topics: Consumer Advocacy; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health Services Needs and Demand; Humans; Interinstitutional Relations; Interviews as Topic; Poverty Areas; Problem Solving; Professional Role; Professional-Patient Relations; Public Assistance; Public Policy; Qualitative Research; Residence Characteristics; Resilience, Psychological; Social Responsibility; Social Support; Social Work; Sweden; Unemployment; Workforce; Workload
PubMed: 22789127
DOI: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-517 -
Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental... Aug 2000Recent welfare reform policies could fundamentally change the nature of public-sector substance abuse services available to women. This review summarizes what is... (Review)
Review
Recent welfare reform policies could fundamentally change the nature of public-sector substance abuse services available to women. This review summarizes what is presently known about substance abuse services and women on welfare, and identifies limitations in our current knowledge about the potential effects of welfare reform. Five crucial areas are examined in which research on services has fallen short: (1) assessing the need for substance abuse services across a broad spectrum of welfare populations, (2) exploring the role that alcohol and drug problems play in welfare dependency, (3) examining how welfare programs can serve as pathways to alcohol and drug treatment, (4) evaluating the effectiveness and costs of innovative welfare-treatment programs, and (5) understanding systems-level adaptations in substance abuse services for women that result from changing welfare policies. We conclude that researchers who study services should take a broad view of these issues-one that considers the unique situation of poor women and single mothers, that views substance abuse within a work impairment or disabilities framework, and one that is attuned to future changes in the effects of welfare reform as the economy and labor markets undergo change.
Topics: Female; Health Policy; Humans; Medical Assistance; Poverty; Public Assistance; Research; Substance-Related Disorders; Women's Health
PubMed: 10968670
DOI: No ID Found -
Policy Brief (UCLA Center For Health... Aug 2015More than three-quarters of a million (772,000) older Californians are among the "hidden poor"--older adults with incomes above the federal poverty line (FPL) but below...
More than three-quarters of a million (772,000) older Californians are among the "hidden poor"--older adults with incomes above the federal poverty line (FPL) but below a minimally decent standard of living as determined by the Elder Economic Security Standardâ„¢ Index (Elder Index) in 2011. This policy brief uses the most recent Elder Index calculations to document the wide discrepancy that exists between the FPL and the Elder Index. This study finds that the FPL significantly underestimates the number of economically insecure older adults who are unable to make ends meet. Yet, because many public assistance programs are aligned with the FPL, potentially hundreds of thousands of economically insecure older Californians are denied aid. The highest rates of the hidden poor among older adults are found among renters, Latinos, women, those who are raising grandchildren, and people in the oldest age groups. Raising the income and asset eligibility requirement thresholds for social support programs such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), housing, health care, and food assistance would help California's older hidden poor make ends meet.
Topics: Aged; California; Data Collection; Food Assistance; Health Care Surveys; Housing; Humans; Income; Insurance, Health; Policy Making; Poverty; Public Assistance; Social Security; Socioeconomic Factors; United States
PubMed: 26376501
DOI: No ID Found -
The Gerontologist Jun 1983
Topics: Aged; Attitude; Family; Female; Home Nursing; Homes for the Aged; Humans; Long-Term Care; Male; Old Age Assistance; Public Assistance; Virginia
PubMed: 6409708
DOI: 10.1093/geront/23.3.300 -
The Future of Children 2002The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 changed the social policy landscape for children in many ways. It replaced the prior welfare... (Review)
Review
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 changed the social policy landscape for children in many ways. It replaced the prior welfare program with block grants to the states entitled Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and modified a broad array of other programs and initiatives affecting low-income children. This article describes the key themes dominating the debate over welfare reform in 1996, specifically: Increased state discretion in program design, leading to more variability in states' eligibility requirements and services provided to low-income families; More stringent work requirements even for parents of very young children; Time limits on the use of federal funds for cash assistance, and a strong focus on caseload reduction; Increased emphasis on parental responsibility, with stronger child support requirements; and Increased emphasis on reducing out-of-wedlock births, including bonuses to states with the largest reductions, and special requirements for unmarried teen parents who seek welfare. Although child well-being received little attention during the congressional debates in 1996, the authors conclude with the hope that improving child outcomes and child well-being will emerge as a key theme when the law is reauthorized in 2002.
Topics: Aid to Families with Dependent Children; Child; Child Care; Child Welfare; Emigration and Immigration; Health Planning; Humans; Public Assistance; United States
PubMed: 11980037
DOI: No ID Found -
AIDS and Behavior Nov 2007This paper provides an account of how young, HIV-positive women manage their lives on limited budgets in four United States cities: New York City, New Orleans, Miami,...
This paper provides an account of how young, HIV-positive women manage their lives on limited budgets in four United States cities: New York City, New Orleans, Miami, and Chicago. The study findings elucidate city-to-city variability in housing assistance, and how this manifests in locality specific differences in the experience of HIV. Our research suggests that the receipt of housing assistance has ramifications for women's engagement in care, and for their health. Women not receiving aid often move frequently in and out of homelessness, or "double up" with others in complex household arrangements to share costs. Women with long-term housing assistance, while still struggling financially, possess a stable base from which to approach daily life and HIV care. This account suggests a need for empirical research assessing the impact of local variations in housing assistance on specific health outcomes for those with HIV. It also highlights the importance of understanding local contexts when designing housing interventions at both the individual and structural levels.
Topics: Chicago; Cities; Female; HIV Infections; Housing; Humans; Interviews as Topic; Male; National Health Programs; New York City; Poverty; Public Assistance; United States; Women's Health
PubMed: 17510787
DOI: 10.1007/s10461-007-9247-2 -
Zeitschrift Fur Gerontologie 1980This article concerns with the question: which part of public social security expenditures is paid for the elderly population? Hereby we calculated on the dates of 1976...
This article concerns with the question: which part of public social security expenditures is paid for the elderly population? Hereby we calculated on the dates of 1976 of the "Sozialbericht 1978" the share of payments for those people, which are 60 years and older. So we get a specific quota of "old-age public charge". This quota was in 1976 45.72% of the whole expenditures for social security in the Federal Republic of Germany or 147,039 Mill. DM. This is equivalent with 13% of the gross national product (GNP). This result has however a lack of ability for forecasting the future public social security expenditures because of numerous speculative conditions, which would have to be taken into account.
Topics: Aged; Humans; Insurance, Health; Pensions; Public Assistance; Social Security; Social Welfare
PubMed: 7456621
DOI: No ID Found