Social Security Act The Exclusion of Health Insurance

WEEK 4 ASSIGNMENT

Week 4 Assignment: The Exclusion of Health Insurance from the Social Security Act

From the onset, it would be prudent to note that the Social Security Act was signed into law on the 14th of August in 1935 (Dobelstein, 2009). Then said act has been hailed as a significant historical development – with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities - CBPP (2020) terming it “one of the nation’s most successful, effective, and popular programs.” As CBPP (2020) further points out, the act had a wide range of provisions that were specifically instrumental in the advancement of not only life insurance, but also disability insurance protection. Dobelstein (2009) is categorical that there are numerous momentous provisions in the act. According to Dobelstein (2009), the most instrumental provisions in the act could be condensed as follows: “(1) Federal aid to the States to enable them to provide cash pensions to their needy aged, and (2) a system of Federal old-age benefits for retired workers” (p. 118).

It would, however, be important to note that a national health insurance provision was dropped from the Social Security Act of 1935. The said move came by as a consequence of the controversial nature of compulsory pension as well as unemployment. Buck (2017) points out that there were initial plans to ensure that the Social Security Act incorporated health insurance that was federally sponsored. However, this, according to the author, was excluded so as to ensure that that the bill swiftly passed through Congress. To a large extent, the exclusion of a health insurance provision effectively meant that there were sections of the society that continued experiencing financial hardship in as far as their access to the required health services was concerned. This is more so the case given that such a provision would have been inclusive of a wide range of healthcare services deemed essential, i.e. palliative care, rehabilitation, treatment, as well as prevention of illness.

It should also be noted that at the federal level, the government continued to be burdened by healthcare costs. If the provision had been included, the government would have been able to ensure that the various services were streamlined – effectively resulting in significant cost-reduction benefits for the national economy. A health insurance provision would also have come in handy in efforts to ensure that healthcare services were equalized. In the end, this would have resulted in longer life expectancy for the population and, thus, a workforce that was healthier.