Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Social Welfare Law
Irresponsibly Taxing Irresponsibility: The Individual Tax Penalty Under The Affordable Care Act, Francine J. Lipman, James Owens
Irresponsibly Taxing Irresponsibility: The Individual Tax Penalty Under The Affordable Care Act, Francine J. Lipman, James Owens
Scholarly Works
In recent decades, Congress has used the federal income tax system increasingly to administer and deliver social benefits. This transition is consistent with the evolution of the American welfare system into workfare over the last several decades. As more and more social welfare benefits are conditioned upon work, family composition, and means-tested by income levels, the income tax system where this data is already systematically aggregated, authenticated, and processed has become the go-to administrative agency.
Nevertheless, as the National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson has noted there are “substantial differences between benefits agencies and enforcement agencies in terms of culture, mindset, …
Medicaid At 50: No Longer Limited To The "Deserving" Poor?, David Orentlicher
Medicaid At 50: No Longer Limited To The "Deserving" Poor?, David Orentlicher
Scholarly Works
Professor David Orentlicher considers the significance of the passage of the Affordable Care Act on the Medicaid program. He discusses the expansion of the program's recipients from merely children, pregnant women, single caretakers of children, and disabled persons to all persons up to 138% of the federal poverty level. Professor Orentlicher argues that the Medicaid expansion reflects concerns about the high costs of health care rather than an evolution in societal thinking about the "deserving" poor. As a result, the expansion may not provide a stable source of health care coverage for the expansion population.