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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1987

Tax policy as social policy: cafeteria plans, 1978-1985.

Since the passage of Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code in 1978, cafeteria plans have offered employees a choice of tax-free fringe benefits. Although these plans have been popular with employers and employees, Treasury Department officials and many tax lawyers soon came to regard Section 125 as a mistake. The Treasury has tried to reclaim through regulation the revenue and the fundamental principles of tax law it had asked Congress to give away in 1978. This paper is a history of Section 125 that emphasizes its relationship to health policy. On the basis of interviews and printed primary sources, the paper argues that Treasury officials made a less than rigorous assessment of the impact of cafeteria plans because they were preoccupied with a larger agenda of making tax-free benefits more equitable. Moreover, they saw no reason to collaborate with the health policy community to plan this agenda; they saw themselves as implementing a social policy already in the Internal Revenue Code.

Civil Rights↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Social medicine and social policy.

Social medicine as a term has achieved acceptance in medical education and medical practice, although there is still some question as to its acceptance in reality. The term had its origin in the vigorous nineteenth-century efforts at both medical and social reform, combining the two in a recognition of the intimate connection between social factors and the causation of disease. Henry Ernest Sigerist, a Swiss physician and noted scholar of medical history, formulated the broadest concept in the 1930s, attracting students and a latent American reform movement toward the idea of restructuring medical education as one part of social reform, and indicating ways of restructuring medical practice as another element in improving medical care at the same time. In addition to promulgating the doctrine, he established the policy of examining and describing systems of medical education and medical care in other parts of the world, not only to assist in improving medical care in countries with well-organized systems, but to assist countries with poor resources and lesser organizational capability in meeting the goals of social medicine. Doubt as to the durability of the concept has been expressed, insofar as the recommended improvements have lagged behind the expression, and because so many changes have taken place in the nature of medical practice, medical discoveries, and advances in technology. A closer examination of Sigerist's writings on the subject and evaluation of the circumstances around present-day problems would seem to indicate that the flaw is not in the doctrine, but in the lack of social application.

Curriculum↗
PubMed1997

The effects of physical attractiveness on gaining access to alcohol: when social policy meets social decision making.

Despite numerous legal interventions, minors continue to purchase and consume alcohol. Prior research had suggested that the decision to request identification to prove legal age was susceptible to various judgement and decision heuristics. This research examined whether the physical attractiveness of the potential consumer and the presence or absence of others were significant predictors of alcohol accessibility. Bartenders (n = 130) rated a target individual who was either high or low in attractiveness. Results indicated that attractiveness was a significant predictor of "proofing likelihood". High levels of attractiveness were associated with a decrease in the likelihood of being asked to provide proof of legal age for the purchase of alcohol. Individuals presented alone were seen as significantly older than when grouped with others. Implications of these findings for the restriction of alcohol availability among minors are considered.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Women and social security: social policy adjusts to social change.

Women age sixty-five and over now constitute about three fifths of the elderly population. They live longer than men and over time that longevity gap is increasing. Yet their income in later years is woefully inadequate. Poverty status is greater for elderly women than for elderly men; over half of aged women in poverty are widows. This paper describes the social security program, the cornerstone of our retirement income, and the lack of congruence of its provisions with contemporary social roles of women. It analyzes alternative proposals of two-tier, double decker and homemaker benefits, and earnings sharing, and their possible impact on women's economic status. It recommends improvements for this transition period while more basic structural reform is under discussion. Reform based on societal consensus could increase equity of treatment and adequacy of benefits for women. It is an essential prelude to consideration of long range financing needs of social security.

Aged↗
PubMed1997

Social policy considerations in perinatal social work.

Infant mortality has been a major problem in the United States for many years. Despite recent improvements, it continues to be a major social and economic problem. This is particularly true in non-white populations, where the infant mortality rate is significantly higher. This article discusses some of the reasons for the continued high rate of infant mortality, with particular attention to barriers which, if removed, might improve the health of newborn infants. How social workers can use this information in advocacy efforts is then explored in an effort to involve social workers more directly in this pressing national problem.

Health Services Needs and Demand↗
PubMed1996

Influencing health care policy: nursing research and the ANA social policy statement.

This paper describes policy formation and its relationship to nursing research, examining ways in which nursing's disciplinary research can have greater influence on American health care policy. The American Nurses Association's Social Policy Statement (1995) is discussed in its role as a guide for nursing research efforts in a health care reform environment where favorable patient outcomes are key.

American Nurses' Association↗
PubMed1987

The social policy statement: a reappraisal.

The social policy statement has been an extremely influential text in recent nursing history. Its potential as a guide in the future, however, depends on whether the view of the world it represents is one that nurses want to support. This article analyzes the concepts of person and society that underlie the definition of nursing. It suggests that at least two noncomplementary models of person and society are operating in the policy statement and discusses implications of those models for a theory of nursing.

Humans↗
PubMed1980

[Integrated social policy].

An investigation into 'Integrated Social Policy' is reviewed. The research has provided a number of interesting data. There are, however, some serious methodological problems, which have not been adequately handled by the investigators. Especially, the very abstract nature of the concepts does run up against serious objections. Also the nature of the research problem has been discussed. It is suggested that another frame of reference could be more fruitful, namely the discrepancy between the development of the aged population in the last fifty years on the one hand and the organizational structure of the government on the other hand. Possibly there is a large 'cultural lag'. A final question is concerned with the urgent need of reorganizing the administrative structure itself.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Sociopolitics or social policy: Bulgarian welfare in transition?

In this article, the author reviews the achievements and limitations of postwar Bulgarian social policy. A number of crisis points in contemporary social policy are identified. These include the worsening mortality rates of working people, the sharpening debate between allocation according to need or merit, and controversy surrounding subordination of family policy to economic and demographic considerations. The central irony of social policy in state socialist societies is well exemplified in Bulgaria. The more the official ideology of the regime regards the main purpose of social and political organization as being the meeting of human needs, the more easily and unashamedly any particular social policy can be an instrument of some wider economic, demographic, or other political purpose. The prospect for the emergence of an independent social policy is considered.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

[Maastricht European social policy with special reference to questions concerning rehabilitation and disability topics].

A protocol annexed to the Maastricht Treaty of 7 February 1992, the agreement on social policy is instrumental in upgrading European social policy and in making it an integral part of the policy of the European Union. It is on the one hand oriented toward appropriate provisions to protect workers in the various EU member countries against disadvantage arising from developments in the economic sector, but on the other also seeks to counter the high level of unemployment currently at hand by fostering concrete action. European social policy, hence, is emphasizing employment policy initiatives including action aimed at occupational and social integration of disabled people, such as the HELIOS II action programme or the "Employment HORIZON" Community initiative. The Commission's notions of European social policy development in the forthcoming 1995-1999 period have been presented in the White Paper "European social policy, a way forward for the Union". The proposals contained in this White Paper are to be embodied in 1995 in a work programme of the European Commission.

Persons with Disabilities↗
PubMed1979

Comparative social policy and political conflict in advanced welfare states: Denmark and Sweden.

There has developed an abundant literature on the social and political determinants of social policies, but few have addressed the question of how state policies, once implemented, affect the system of stratification in civil society. This article examines the political consequences of social policy in Denmark and Sweden, countries in which a social democratic labor movement has predominated for decades. Superficially, these two highly developed welfare states appear very similar. Yet the political and social contexts in which their social policies have evolved differ substantially. I shall demonstrate the argument that the traditional welfare state approach may be conducive to a new and powerful political conflict, which directly questions the legitimacy of the welfare state itself, unless government is successful in subordinating private capitalist growth to effective public regulation. In Denmark, where social democratic governments have failed to match welfare state growth with more control of private capital, social policy has tended to undermine the political unity of the working class. Consequently, the Social Democratic Party has been weakened. Social welfare programs, in effect, have helped create new forms of stratification within the working class. In Sweden, social democratic governments have been quite successful in shifting a decisive degree of power over the private market to the state. This has helped avert a crisis of the welfare state, and has also been an important condition for continued social democratic hegemony and working-class unity. I conclude that social reform politics tend to be problematic from the point of view of the future power of social democratic movements.

Conflict, Psychological↗
PubMed1977

[Social policy and a plan for mental health].

Social policy is defined; starting with the concept of health, actions are described and specified beyond the traditional medical model. Using drug dependency as an example, the concepts of damage and vulnerability are applied to illustrate how mental health actions operate in the development of social medicine and place it in the framework of social policy. The need for such a policy is outlined, with a strategy stemming from it. Priority actions in the mental health field are specified and it is shown that actions go beyond professional activities as understood in the traditional models.

Female↗