新余市完善社会救助制度

制度建设是社会救助的首要前提，是让经济社会发展成果惠及广大困难群众的一项基础工作。有制度作保障的民生问题，才能得到长效解决。对此，江西省新余市从城市低保制度实施开始，就非常注重社会救助制度建设，并为农村低保的建制工作率先在全省进行探索。     

对社会救助多样化原则的思考

目前,我国以城市居民最低生活保障救助制度(以下简称低保制度)为核心,以其他各种临时性、突发性救助制度作为配套的社会救助体系基本形成,可以说我国向完备的社会保障制度又跨进了一大步。但同时我们也看到,我国的社会救助体系又面临很多困难和挑战,而社会救助的多样化原则,则为我们建立一个公正、积极、高效的社会救助制度体系提供了新的视角。     

低保救助与积极再就业政策的有效衔接问题研究

低保救助与积极再就业相脱节是我国低保救助制度存在的突出问题。政府对有劳动能力低保对象再就业服务的缺位以及有劳动能力低保对象选择不就业是低保救助与积极再就业相脱节的主要原因。只有合理借鉴境外有益做法,落实相关部门的职责,提升再就业服务品质,提高低保对象的再就业收益,降低低保对象的再就业成本,激励低保对象积极再就业而不是消极等待救助,才能实现低保救助与积极再就业的有效衔接,根本上解决有劳动能力低保救助对象的贫困问题。     

湖北建始县:精心编织救助保障安全网

正为确保城乡困难群众生活质量进一步提高,湖北省建始县民政局精心编织群众生活保障安全网,建立城乡低保、五保供养、孤儿救助、医疗救助、临时救助、教育救助、住房救助、低收入认定等社会救助制度,经过不断的努力,全县基本上实现城乡社会救助全覆盖。     

构建全民低保制度的探索

现行"城乡分治"的低保制度存在城乡差距较大,管理体制和运行机制不完善,信息化和法制化建设相对滞后,保障标准和分类救助制定不够科学,与再就业机制缺乏有效衔接等问题,不仅难以适应社会改革的需要,还会造成一定的负面影响。本文总结借鉴城市与农村的低保实施经验,提出建立全民低保制度,并探讨全民低保制度的设计原则、框架体系等问题,为完善社会保障体系建设、消除城乡经济社会二元结构、消除城乡居民不平等待遇走出一条新路。     

江西万安县建立大病医疗救助基金

正近日,江西省万安县出台《万安县建立因病致贫救助基金工作实施方案》,决定2014年开始启动因病致贫救助基金,每年约安排资金100万元,对城乡低保、低保边缘户贫困家庭因病致贫实施救助。"救助基金"实行专账管理,专款专用,使用情况每年审计一次,并向社会公开。今后,贫困家庭中的家庭成员患大病住院后,经新农合、居民医保、商业保险、城乡医疗救助后,年度内可报费用中个人自付部分超过3万元以上者,可按10%救助。     

济宁——构建“五位”“四制”社会救助体系

构建“五位”一体救助体系 推进资源整合与制度创新 针对过去社会救助工作覆盖面窄、救助力量分散、制度不完善、资金不到位等问题,本着多层面、全覆盖、高效率、求实效的原则,山东省济宁市民政局对各类救助资源进行了整合创新,建立并形成了以城乡低保为主体、临时救济为补充、社会互助为辅助、优惠政策相配套、基层社区组织为依托的“五位”一体的社会救助体系。     

山东省青岛市黄岛区：调整城乡困难居民医疗救助制度

日前，山东省青岛市黄岛区调整城乡困难居民医疗救助制度，进一步拓宽城乡困难居民医疗救助对象范围，将有更多城乡困难居民受益。政策调整后，除低保家庭和低保边缘家庭成员外，还将中等及以下收入家庭成员纳入医疗救助对象范围。中等及以下收入家庭（不含低保和低保边缘家庭）成员患7种大病住院费用救助比例，为个人自负医疗费的80％，救助标准与城乡低保及低保边缘家庭成员相同，最高救助额提高到5万元。同时，将城市“三无”（无子女、无收入、无依靠）老人和农村五保供养对象这两类特殊群体实行医疗救助，     

武威市民政局2004年着力办好十件实事

一是及时救助受灾群众、孤寡老人等社会弱势群体,全力提高农村五保供养标准。二是实施灾民建房建设项目,建立灾民建房工作责任制,确保灾民建房质量。三是开展 农村医疗救助试点和逐步推行工作,建立农村医疗救助基金。四是加大城市低保工作力度,将符合低保条件的对象全部纳入低保范围,实现动态管理下的应保尽保,推行低保金社会化发放,最大限度地方便群众。五是加大双拥工作力度,创新优抚保障机制,加     

通化市全面启动低保户大病医疗和教育救助

为切实开展低保户的社会救助工作,近日,吉林省通化市相继出台了《通化市城市特困居民大病医疗救助办法》、《通化市城乡特困居民教育救助办法》,办法中明确规定了低保户大病医疗救助、教育救助工作的原则和标准。 大病医疗救助:1、通化市区范围内拥有市区长住户口且为低保家庭中长期患大病重病的;2、低保家庭中有重残人员需要立即手术治疗的;3、突遭严重灾害,生活陷入贫困,患大病需治疗的。符合以上条件的低保对象,给予一定补助,标准视疾病程度确定     

论健全完善人大代表执行代表职务的保障制度

我国现行人大代表执行代表职务的保障制度尽管在实践中发挥了积极作用,但从适应代表制度发展完善的需要和远景来看,仍有种种不足。健全完善人大代表执行代表职务的保障制度,需要从完善代表的生活保障权、言论免责权、人身特别保障权的保障制度、完善代表执行代表职务的时间和物质保障措施以及加强有关服务机构建设和完善专职助理制度等方面入手。     

城乡低保资金绩效评价指标体系构建研究

城乡低保资金绩效评价是完善低保制度,加强财政专项支出绩效管理的内在要求。鉴于现有低保资金绩效评价指标体系存在的问题,借鉴平衡计分卡绩效评价系统,构建比较全面、平衡和具有战略性的低保资金绩效评价指标体系,并合理设定指标内涵、评价标准及指标权重,以确保评价的全面性、科学性,有利于发现既有低保制度中的问题并及时改进。     

退耕还林与秦巴山区农民生活来源替代模式研究

退耕还林是整个西部大开发的根本点和切入点。退耕还林区大多都属于经济贫困地区 ,经济效益的强烈追求导致了偏离生态目的现象的发生。建立最低生活保障基金 ,调整产业结构走产业化道路 ,剩余劳动力外出务工 ,生态旅游等方式 ,是解决退耕还林区农民生活来源的几种有效模式。     

Will You Still Need Me,Will You Still Feed Me?—Paying for Care in Old Age

A major issue for social policy in the twenty-first century will be providing good-quality support and care for older people. However, recent debate about this has been driven more by ideology than by evidence. This paper examines the socio-economic, demographic and policy changes that are influencing the debate, and outlines findings from current research on attitudes towards financial planning for care in old age. This shows that the majority of people feel that the state should provide or pay for care for older people, either through a means-tested system or one which provides some basic level of protection which people can choose to enhance through their own means. However, only a minority would be willing to pay themselves for this, either directly through increased taxation or indirectly through reduced prospects of inheritance of housing capital. The paper concludes with a discussion of the policy implications of these findings.     

The protection of atypical work in the Australian, British and German social security systems

It is a common feature of Australian, British and German social security law to exclude atypical work from many normal standards of protection. Social insurance and occupational welfare law still concentrate on the standard employment relationship, as they use length and continuity of employment as the major criteria for distributing benefits, and means-tested systems put those who depend on different sources of income, as most atypical workers do, at a disadvantage. However, equal treatment and even promotion are granted to one type of atypical work: the combination of domestic and atypical labour market work. Examples are the law of unemployment insurance in Great Britain and Germany, the family components within the social insurance schemes, the special British and Australian means-tested benefits for the working poor family, and parental leave legislation in Germany.     

Retrenchment, Expansion and the Transformation of Mexican Social Protection Policies

Social protection policies in Mexico have been transformed since 1988 through partial retrenchment of social insurance and significant expansion of targeted or means-tested social assistance. These changes reflect a substantial redefinition of social protection through incremental changes in policy. The changes reflect the abandonment of the goal of developing an employment-based, universal welfare regime, which had been pursued by Mexican governments as late as the 1970s. Instead, recent administrations have moved towards the redefinition of Mexico's welfare regime into a residual, means-tested model with significant private provision of benefits and services. This shift in social protection is consistent with the change in Mexico's overall economic development strategy and increasing political competition in the process of democratization.     

Payment of Universal Credit for couples in the UK: Challenges for reform from a gender perspective

Universal Credit has been rolled out gradually in the United Kingdom since 2013 as one integrated means-tested benefit replacing six different transfers with a single monthly payment. Previously, these benefits were awarded for distinct purposes and, for couples who claimed them, were potentially payable to different partners. Concerns about Universal Credit’s single payment include the opportunities it may create for facilitating domestic abuse, the fostering of more unequal power relations within couples, the reduction of financial autonomy for individuals, and the de-labelling of benefit payments. This article explores debates about the prospects for individual payments to partners in couples of Universal Credit as a jointly assessed integrated means-tested benefit, including different approaches emerging from the United Kingdom’s devolved governments (mainly Scotland and Northern Ireland). Whilst payment to each partner is likely to be more feasible where there are separate rather than integrated means-tested benefits, it concludes that genuine financial autonomy for partners in couples is best pursued via individually based non-means-tested benefits.     

Social Justice and the Reform of Social Security

There have been massive increases over the years in expenditure on the public services loosely grouped together as the “welfare state”, but widespread dissatisfaction persists. This article is a critique of the proposals for reform presented in the Report of the Commission on Social Justice, set up by the late John Smith. The report contains a sweeping condemnation of existing arrangements and puts forward a series of recommendations ranging from the health service to decentralization in government and from employment policy to benefits for the elderly. As was perhaps inevitable, some are more precisely presented than others. An important example of the more fully specified proposals is one to establish what would, in effect, be a means-tested “pension guarantee”but with “means”so defined as to exclude capital and with much improved “disregards”. Another is the endorsement of the proposals to extend social insurance to part-time workers—a proposal which raises some controversial issues. There is much in this report that deserves close attention, and it is, therefore, all the more unfortunate that its proposals are not presented in the form of a quantified plan for social policy. Even for the first five years or so of the fifteen the Commission has in mind, there is no attempt at quantification. The importance of economic growth is rightly stressed, but “faster growth”can become a panacea that obscures the need for choice, not only between private and public expenditure but also between the various components of public policy itself.     

Targeting Social Expenditure in New Zealand: An Evaluation of the Current Policy Regime

This paper provides a brief account of how social expenditure in New Zealand has been targeted (i.e. means-tested) since the late nineteenth century, outlines the policy framework at the dawn of the new millennium, and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the current targeting regime. It is argued that the existing policy settings are open to challenge on a number of counts. In particular, they are complex, inconsistent and relatively intrusive, they impose significant administrative and compliance costs, and they generate considerable incentive problems. Nor has the greater reliance on targeting since the mid-1980s prevented an increase in relative poverty and inequality. Given this situation, the paper outlines some possible reforms.     

Implications of Subsidiarity for the Care of Older People in Germany

This paper examines definitions and origins of the principle of subsidiarity and its application to welfare systems of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) with particular reference to the care of older people. The German corporatist welfare system is influenced by conservative views about status relations and Catholic teachings on family responsibilities. Since unification of Germany in 1990 new care systems based on the principle of subsidiarity have been imposed in eastern Germany. The FRG's social insurance system based on entitlement benefits those fully employed, while women and marginalized groups with low status in the labour market are poorly covered by insurance and may have to rely on stigmatizing means-tested social welfare based on subsidiarity. Access to pluralist, fragmented care services depends on eligibility for funding through insurance or social welfare or else on ability to pay. Social care is poorly developed because of the emphasis on insurance and the medical model as well as on the principles of subsidiarity and self help which place an explicit duty on the family, mainly women, to care.