Poverty in America. A brief introduction to the policy problem

Poverty in America
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A brief introduction to the policy problem
Unlike other countries or states, the social welfare policy is unstable in the United States, and that’s the reason why many Americans are living a miserable life. The social welfare policies aim to protect citizens from the financial crisis, insecurities of life, and economic risks to an extent. Various NGOs and social welfare organizations have been forefront in dealing with health and financial issues in the country. However, both the state and federal governments have failed to play their significant role. Until now, they have not been able to determine the actual number of deserving people in the United States (Edwards, 2000).
Besides so many efforts and social media campaigns, it is still unknown how to provide poor and needy with enough financial assistance and where to actually locate them inside the country. Most often, the social welfare programs and policies are introduced to benefit retired and elderly, the sick, widows, unemployed, disabled people, and work-injured individuals. Methods of financing vary from state to state. In Canada, India, China and Europe, a large number of social welfare policies have been implemented to help the poor and needy people. Unfortunately, only a few policies exist in the United States and most of them have not yet been implemented. American’s social welfare system has been divided into two main categories: public assistance and social insurance (Butz, 2016).
Social insurance is primarily based on the payroll contribution and earnings of a person, and public assistance, also known as social welfare, is mainly based on the financial requirements of a person. The main social welfare programs in the United States are Disability Insurance, Old Age, Unemployment Insurance, Workers Compensation, and Survivors. Are those programs or policies enough to cope up with the problem of poverty in the state? It looks like more and more policies and programs need to be introduced because poverty has reached an alarming level in the United States (Valdés, 2000).
History of social welfare policy in this area
The social welfare laws were first introduced in Germany in the 18th century. After the success of those rules and regulations, other countries followed the footsteps of Germany including the United States of America and Canada. With the passage of time, the eligibility requirements changed for a particular grant. The floor of a minimum protection came into being in America in the 20th century. Today, most of the social welfare programs and policies in the United States are designed to meet the minimum requirements of people. Some of the best state and federal welfare programs are free medical assistance, educational facilities, transportation facilities, availability of food and pure drinking water, energy and utility subsidies, housing facilities, and other primary services (Edwards, 2000).
As already mentioned, Disability Insurance, Old Age, Unemployment Insurance, Workers Compensation, and Survivors are the most common and oldest social welfare programs in America. Old Age, Disability Insurance, and Survivors are collectively known as Social Security. Unlike these poli...