Deck 19: Social Welfare

Question 1

Which of the following makes U.S. welfare policy different from that of most European democracies?

A) Americans have tended to insist that welfare benefits be particularized and take the form of cash payments.
B) Americans have been quicker than other countries to adopt many components of the welfare state.
C) Americans have insisted that the federal government play a large role in running welfare programs.
D) Americans have tended to favor aid in the form of money over aid in the form of services.
E) Americans have generally taken a more restrictive view of who is entitled to receive government assistance.

Answer 1

E

Question 2

The major alternative view to assisting those who deserve public assistance would be to provide social welfare on the basis of

A) contributions.
B) community needs.
C) regional needs.
D) equality.
E) a fair share.

Answer 2

E

Question 3

Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was created in the

A) 1990s.
B) 1970s.
C) 1960s.
D) 1950s.
E) 1930s.

Answer 3

E

Question 4

Which of the following statements regarding "Obamacare" is incorrect?

A) It was opposed by most Americans.
B) It was opposed by the American Medical Association.
C) It was supported by AARP.
D) It was not supported by the vote of a single Republican member of Congress.
E) It led to sweeping GOP victories in the 2010 elections.

Question 5

The text suggests that Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010) featured _________ politics.

A) majoritarian
B) client
C) interest group
D) entrepreneurial
E) all of the above

Question 6

Welfare policies in which nearly everyone benefits and nearly everyone pays are characterized by

A) neo-institutional politics.
B) minoritarian politics.
C) client politics.
D) concurrency politics.
E) majoritarian politics.

Question 7

The Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program was created to help support the children of women whose husbands

A) had died laboring in factories.
B) were disabled from mining accidents.
C) fatherless by death or disaster.
D) illegitimate.
E) injured by automobile accidents.

Question 8

One notable difference between the passage of Medicare (1965) and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010) was

A) the lack of bipartisan support for the 2010 Act.
B) the lack of bipartisan support for the 1965 Act.
C) the lack of media coverage given to the 2010 Act.
D) the lack of media coverage given to the 1965 Act.
E) the lack of support by Democrats for the 2010 Act.

Question 9

An example of a welfare policy in which most or all people benefit is

A) Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).
B) Social Security.
C) SNAP (food stamps).
D) Medicaid.
E) both C and D.

Question 10

An example of client-based welfare policies that recently lost political legitimacy is

A) Social Security.
B) Medicare.
C) Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).
D) Medicaid.
E) all of the above.

Question 11

In America, we have insisted that _______ play(s) a large role in running welfare programs.

A) the states
B) the private sector
C) the U.S. Senate
D) the federal judiciary
E) county boards

Question 12

Which of the following has not been a declared purpose of welfare policies in the United States?

A) Helping people with disabilities
B) Redistributing income
C) Providing social insurance to cushion against hard times
D) Giving job skills to those who lack them
E) Providing training to those who lack skills

Question 13

Means tests place specific focus on

A) employment.
B) education.
C) income level.
D) age
E) both A and B.

Question 14

Welfare policies in which a relatively few number of people benefit but almost everyone pays are characterized by

A) majoritarian politics.
B) minoritarian politics.
C) client politics.
D) concurrency politics.
E) neo-institutional politics.

Question 15

Means tests are associated with the following type of welfare programs:

A) majoritarian based.
B) minoritarian based.
C) client based.
D) concurrency based.
E) neo-institutional politics.

Question 16

Which of the following nations was the first to create a nationwide social security program?

A) The United States
B) Great Britain
C) Sweden
D) Norway
E) Germany

Question 17

An example of a welfare policy that helps only a small number of people is

A) Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).
B) Social Security.
C) SNAP (food stamps).
D) Medicaid.
E) options A, C, and D.

Question 18

The typical U.S. preference in dealing with the problems of the poor is to relieve them by providing

A) cash.
B) moral exhortations.
C) jobs.
D) services.
E) savings bonds.

Question 19

By 2010, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid together accounted for _____ percent of the federal budget.

A) 5
B) 10
C) 20
D) 30
E) 40

Question 20

Which of the following statements regarding the 2005 prescription drug program is correct?

A) Enrollment percentages were quite low.
B) The program cost much more than expected.
C) Participants could enroll by making a few simple choices.
D) The government provided no assistance with respect to the enrollment process.
E) None of the above.

Question 21

Which president called for an expanded role for religious organizations in administering federal social programs?

A) Bill Clinton
B) George W. Bush
C) Ronald Reagan
D) Richard Nixon
E) John F. Kennedy

Question 22

Which program is properly called Social Security?

A) Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI)
B) Medicare
C) Unemployment Insurance
D) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
E) Supplemental Security Insurance

Question 23

The text suggests that mass opinion on community-serving faith-based providers is

A) very negative.
B) somewhat negative.
C) somewhat divided.
D) neutral if not uninformed.
E) supportive.

Question 24

Before the passage of the Social Security Act, ______ states had some form of old-age pension.

A) very few
B) a moderate number of
C) many
D) most
E) all of the states

Question 25

American progressives, though committed to reform, were particularly concerned with

A) the creation of the welfare state.
B) the redistribution of income.
C) matters of social class.
D) reform of the political process.
E) escalating rates of taxation.

Question 26

The impetus for the creation of various welfare programs in the United States came from

A) the labor movement of the 1890s.
B) the progressive movement that began in 1908.
C) ordinary politics, as in France.
D) ordinary politics, as in Great Britain.
E) the Great Depression of the early 1930s.

Question 27

Previous to the passage of the Social Security Act, __________ actually had an unemployment insurance program.

A) Wisconsin
B) California
C) Massachusetts
D) New York
E) Delaware

Question 28

Which of the following effects did the existence of state welfare programs have on the passage of national programs?

A) They made it difficult, because state programs had given welfare in general a black eye.
B) They made it difficult, because local welfare bureaucrats resisted national programs.
C) They made it easier, because they created a lobby for federal financial assistance.
D) They made it easier, because state programs had produced much hostility.
E) They had little or no effect on the passage of national programs, because most were inefficient and underfunded.

Question 29

All of the following involve a means test except

A) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
B) Supplemental Security Income.
C) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
D) Medicaid.
E) Medicare.

Question 30

Which of the following involves the government's paying part of the cost of hospital care for retired or disabled persons on Social Security?

A) Medicaid
B) Supplemental Security Income
C) Medicare
D) Earned Income Tax Credit
E) Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance

Question 31

Which of the following statements concerning the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program is incorrect?

A) It involves the distribution of vouchers.
B) The program is available for those below a certain income level.
C) The program is funded out of the general federal revenues.
D) The program is means tested.
E) None of the above

Question 32

Which of the following involves cash payments to aged, blind, or disabled people whose income is below a certain level?

A) Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI)
B) Medicare
C) Unemployment insurance
D) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
E) Supplemental Security Insurance

Question 33

Which of the following involves payment of medical expenses for persons receiving TANF or SSI payments?

A) Medicaid
B) Supplemental Security Income
C) Medicare
D) Earned Income Tax Credit
E) Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance

Question 34

Which of the following involves a cash subsidy to poor working families?

A) Medicaid
B) Supplemental Security Income
C) Medicare
D) Earned Income Tax Credit
E) Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance

Question 35

Which of the following replaced the old AFDC?

A) Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI)
B) Medicare
C) Unemployment insurance
D) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
E) Supplemental Security Insurance

Question 36

Which of the following statements concerning unemployment insurance is incorrect?

A) It involves weekly payments.
B) It provides assistance to those who have been laid off and cannot find work.
C) The benefits and requirements are determined by Congress.
D) It is paid for by taxes on employers.
E) None of the above

Question 37

The 1996 law that abolished the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program contained a provision directing that

A) religious nonprofit organizations be permitted to compete for grants with which to administer federal welfare-to-work and related policies.
B) former AFDC recipients be exempt from the general qualifications of TANF.
C) government employees be given special consideration in requests for social services.
D) large corporations be allowed to contribute to social welfare programs directly through tax incentives.
E) members of Congress be allowed individually to audit all existing programs in accordance with federal laws.

Question 38

Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and SNAP (food stamps) are all examples of

A) contributory assistance programs.
B) noncontributory assistance programs.
C) insurance programs.
D) guaranteed annual income programs.
E) restriction-free assistance programs.

Question 39

Which of the following is among the reasons Great Britain introduced key welfare state policies much earlier than the United States?

A) Public opinion
B) The fact that the British thought in nationalistic terms rather than class terms
C) Concentration of authority in the hands of the prime minister
D) The fact that, at the time, Great Britain could better afford the welfare state
E) Adaptation of socialist policies in the House of Lords

Question 40

Before the passage of the Social Security Act, ______ states had adopted a "mother's pension."

A) very few
B) a moderate number of
C) many
D) most
E) all of the states

Question 41

Concerning the provision of welfare benefits by the federal government, the U.S. Constitution

A) was clear in requiring them.
B) specifically permitted them but did not make them mandatory.
C) was unclear until the Fourteenth Amendment was added.
D) was silent.
E) was unclear until the Fifteenth Amendment was added.

Question 42

Which of the following is not a problem of permitting Medicare recipients to visit the doctor or hospital when they feel they need to?

A) Many people will use medical services when they really don't need them.
B) Hospitals will not allow doctors to participate in programs that require extensive record keeping.
C) There will be fraud and abuse in how some doctors charge the government for their services.
D) Doctors and hospitals will be paid on the basis of a government-approved payment plan-a plan that the government can and has changed whenever it wants to save money.
E) Doctors and hospitals will not participate.

Question 43

When Franklin Roosevelt's Cabinet Committee on Economic Security met, it had to consider the critical, widespread belief that

A) government could not adequately fund social welfare programs.
B) government should provide only particular kinds of social welfare assistance.
C) any direct federal welfare program would be unconstitutional.
D) religious organizations should direct all social welfare efforts.
E) Congress was best suited to direct social welfare policy.

Question 44

Which of the following statements regarding the so-called "Ryan Plan" for Medicaid reform is incorrect?

A) Federal money would go to recipients who would use it to buy private health care insurance.
B) Total Medicare costs, beyond what insurance covered, would be capped at $6,000 a person.
C) The cap would increase each year with the GDP plus one percent.
D) Poor people who could not pay the cap could receive subsidies from the government.
E) None of the above

Question 45

All of the following presidents favored the passage of Medicare legislation except

A) Dwight Eisenhower.
B) John Kennedy.
C) Lyndon Johnson.
D) Harry Truman.
E) both C and D.

Question 46

The two kinds of programs included in the Social Security Act of 1935 were

A) loans and insurance.
B) assistance and loans.
C) loans and tax breaks.
D) tax breaks and insurance.
E) insurance and assistance.

Question 47

The Medicare Act was signed into law by

A) Franklin Roosevelt.
B) Lyndon Johnson.
C) John F. Kennedy.
D) Woodrow Wilson.
E) none of the above.

Question 48

Medicare covers

A) most citizens age sixty-five or older.
B) some people younger than sixty-five with disabilities.
C) people with end-stage renal disease.
D) all of the above.
E) none of the above.

Question 49

The approach taken by Franklin Roosevelt and his advisers in creating a national Social Security program was based on the assumption that

A) providing services was both easier and more effective than providing money.
B) administration of the plan was best handled at the federal level.
C) everybody, rich or poor, should be eligible for the assistance programs.
D) any direct federal welfare program might be unconstitutional.
E) federal welfare programs would not be needed for more than ten years.

Question 50

The passage of the Medicare bill was made possible by

A) a marked shift in public opinion.
B) the strong support of the American Medical Association (AMA).
C) the watering down of the bill to remove the more controversial provisions.
D) a Democratic landslide in the 1964 elections.
E) a shift in voting patterns on the United States Supreme Court.

Question 51

Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was a product of the

A) Economic Opportunity Act.
B) Social Security Act.
C) Medicare Act.
D) Family Assistance Plan.
E) Welfare to Work Act.

Question 52

Huey Long, Upton Sinclair, and Francis Townsend all proposed

A) keeping welfare politics at the state level.
B) watered-down versions of the New Deal.
C) more radical alternatives to Social Security.
D) private philanthropy to solve widespread poverty.
E) workhouses for the unemployed.

Question 53

As the Medicare bill made its way through Congress, it was

A) amended in a manner that made it almost unrecognizable to its original author.
B) little changed from what had been initially proposed.
C) made less costly and narrower in its coverage.
D) stripped of provisions that seemed like socialized medicine.
E) expanded in its coverage.

Question 54

A key convert in the passage of Medicare was the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee,

A) Wilbur Mills.
B) William Proxmire.
C) Gerald Ford.
D) Russell Long.
E) Ned Spangler.

Question 55

The key problem in reforming Social Security will be

A) not enough people to pay taxes to provide benefits for every retired person.
B) too few "deserving" people to receive benefits.
C) not enough "deserving" people to receive benefits.
D) convincing older persons to support its continuance.
E) convincing politicians there is a real problem.

Question 56

Which of the following statements regarding Medicare is incorrect?

A) It passed in the House with great ease.
B) It passed in the Senate with great ease.
C) A majority of Democrats voted for it.
D) A majority of Republicans voted against it.
E) None of the above

Question 57

Administration of the Social Security program created in 1935 was to be handled by

A) the states.
B) the federal government.
C) businesses.
D) a private corporation.
E) unions.

Question 58

The Social Security Act was attacked by _______________ as being "socialized medicine."

A) President Eisenhower
B) Herbert Hoover
C) the ACLU
D) the American Medical Association
E) the Society of Pharmaceutical Doctors

Question 59

Medicaid differs from Medicare in that it provides

A) medical assistance to the aged.
B) medical assistance to the general public.
C) medical assistance to the poor.
D) catastrophic medical coverage.
E) catastrophic medical coverage to veterans.

Question 60

Funds for the Social Security program created in 1935 were to come from

A) state taxes.
B) tariffs.
C) federal taxes.
D) businesses.
E) unions.

Question 61

Washington increased the demands on state administration of AFDC, requiring

A) identification of the fathers of children.
B) Medicaid for recipients.
C) mandatory job-training programs.
D) child-care programs for working parents.
E) all of the above.

Question 62

By 1994, two-thirds of the women receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) at any given moment had been in the program for

A) less than two months.
B) less than one year.
C) one to four years.
D) five to seven years.
E) eight or more years.

Question 63

According to Charles Murray, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) actually contributed to poverty rather than addressing it because the program

A) changed the public's perception of who was deserving.
B) encouraged overspending by recipients.
C) allowed administrators too much discretion.
D) encouraged mothers to have more children.
E) discouraged people from looking for jobs.

Question 64

For welfare politics to be client politics, what must be true?

A) The bureaucracy must accept the norms of policy statements.
B) Political elites must personally benefit.
C) The public must perceive the costs to be low.
D) Beneficiaries must be poor.
E) Relatively few people must benefit, but everybody must pay.

Question 65

One of the criticisms directed at Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was that it

A) was more expensive than all military spending combined.
B) gave too much power to state government.
C) smacked of socialized medicine.
D) weakened families by encouraging out-of-wedlock births.
E) merely duplicated several other federal programs.

Question 66

Republicans have generally favored the notion of _______ for parents of children in public schools.

A) fellowships
B) assistantships
C) stipends
D) scholarships
E) vouchers

Question 67

Over the years, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) recipients were ruled eligible for the following new program:

A) workers' compensation.
B) Earned Income Tax Credit.
C) Medicare.
D) Social Security.
E) travel vouchers.

Question 68

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed by Barack Obama, contained funding and support for all of the following except

A) vouchers.
B) Head Start.
C) college loans.
D) grants for elementary schools.
E) grants for secondary schools.

Question 69

The debate over the Social Security Act of 1935 focused on

A) its costs.
B) who would benefit.
C) its legitimacy.
D) who would pay.
E) the technicalities of day-to-day management.

Question 70

For welfare politics to be majoritarian politics, what must be true?

A) Beneficiaries must believe they will come out ahead.
B) Political elites must personally benefit.
C) The public must perceive the costs as low.
D) Beneficiaries must be poor.
E) Institutions must incorporate the norms of policy statements.

Question 71

When Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was enacted, the typical recipient was thought to be a(n)

A) white widow with children living in a small town.
B) black inner-city mother whose husband had deserted her.
C) able-bodied man who refused to get a job.
D) child with multiple handicaps.
E) single mother with more than seven children.

Question 72

George W. Bush was successful in pushing the No Child Left Behind Act through Congress because of the support of

A) Al Gore.
B) Ted Kennedy.
C) Hillary Clinton.
D) Barack Obama.
E) John Kerry.

Question 73

Despite the fact that the U.S. Constitution did not authorize federal welfare, Congress justified the legitimacy of the Social Security Act with the argument that

A) Social Security benefits were not really a federal expenditure.
B) the U.S. Constitution could not have anticipated the need for a social security program.
C) payments into Social Security would always exceed benefits.
D) state administration of Social Security removed it from constitutional jurisdiction.
E) the Tenth Amendment specifically prohibited states from creating such programs.

Question 74

The old AFDC program was replaced by

A) TANF.
B) TPS.
C) the AMA Fund.
D) SSRB.
E) SSRF.

Question 75

By 1994, what proportion of mothers receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) had never been married?

A) About one-tenth
B) About one-fourth
C) Over one-half
D) About three-fourths
E) Almost 100 percent

Question 76

Which of the following programs was/were the result of client politics?

A) Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and Medicaid
B) TANF and Food Stamps
C) Social Security and Medicare
D) Federal aid to education and the War on Poverty
E) Social Security and federal aid to education

Question 77

Under the former Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, states were permitted to

A) define need.
B) set their own benefit levels.
C) administer the program.
D) do all of the above.
E) withhold benefits on the basis of gender.

Question 78

Social Security and Medicare are examples of

A) client politics.
B) entrepreneurial politics.
C) interest group politics.
D) majoritarian politics.
E) neo-institutional politics.

Question 79

AFDC was abolished, and by 2006, welfare caseloads nationally had

A) increased dramatically.
B) slightly increased.
C) remained about the same.
D) decreased by 10 percent.
E) decreased by over 60 percent.

Question 80

In 1970, what proportion of mothers receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) had never been married?

A) About one-tenth
B) About one-fourth
C) About one-half
D) About three-fourths
E) Almost 100 percent