1、Chinas Social Welfare The Chinese government actively promotes the development of social welfare, raising funds through various channels to provide social welfare benefits for the elderly, orphans and the disabled. Social Welfare for the Elderly In accordance with the “Law of the Peoples Republic of
2、 China on the Protection of Elderly Peoples Rights and Interests,” the state and the society have adopted measures to improve conditions for such peoples livelihood, health and participation in social development. Governments at all levels include services for elderly people in their socio-economic
3、development plans, gradually increase investments in services for elderly people, and encourage investment from all sectors of society, so as to enable such services to grow in coordination with socio-economic development. In recent years, thanks to the promotion of the socialization of social welfa
4、re undertakings, a social service system for elderly people has gradually taken shape, with state- and collective-run social welfare organizations for elderly people as the backbone, those sponsored by various social sectors as a new growth point, community welfare services for elderly people as sup
5、port, and services for elderly people living at home as the basis. Today, there are 38,000 social welfare organizations of various kinds for elderly people, with 1.129 million beds, or 8.4 beds for every 1,000 people over the age of 60. In 2001, the state introduced the “Starlight Plan National Comm
6、unity Welfare Service for Elderly People.” By June 2004, a total of 32,000 Starlight Homes for Elderly People had been built or rebuilt in urban and rural areas all over China, with a total investment of 13.49 billion yuan. Social Welfare for Children According to relevant laws and regulations, such
7、 as the “Law of the Peoples Republic of China on the Protection of Minors” and the “Education Law of the Peoples Republic of China,” the state provides comprehensive welfare for children, including education and planned immunization, and takes special care to ensure the livelihood, recovery and educ
8、ation of children with special difficulties, such as disabled children, orphans and abandoned babies, by providing welfare projects, facilities and services. Today, China has 192 special welfare institutions for children and 600 comprehensive welfare institutions with a childrens department, accommo
9、dating a total of 54,000 orphans and disabled children. There are also nearly 10,000 community services around China for orphans and disabled people, such as rehabilitation centers and training classes for mentally retarded children. The Chinese government has decided that, starting from 2004, it is
10、 going to carry out the “Tomorrow Plan Operations and Rehabilitation for Disabled Orphans.” The plan will cover a three-year period and involve 600 million yuan in fund. Under the plan, each year 10,000 disabled orphans will receive operations and rehabilitation services. The aim is that by 2006 all
11、 the disabled orphans with surgical operation indications in all the social welfare institutions around China will have received effective operations and rehabilitation services. Social Welfare for Disabled People The “Law of the Peoples Republic of China on the Protection of Disabled People” promul
12、gated by the state provides legal guarantees for disabled peoples rehabilitation, (康复) education, employment, cultural life and social welfare. The government helps disabled people to get employment by running welfare enterprises, providing employment opportunities in a certain proportion, and suppo
13、rting the self-employment of disabled people. Special care for disabled people is provided through such welfare measures as temporary aid, concentrated support and the running of accommodation institutions for disabled people. By the end of 2003, a total of over 4.03 million disabled people in urban
14、 areas around China were in employment, and 16.85 million disabled people in rural areas were engaged in productive labor; 2.59 million impoverished （穷困的）disabled people enjoyed guarantees for their livelihood; 442,000 disabled people enjoyed concentrated support and the “five guarantees” (of food,
15、clothing, medicare, housing and burial expenses) in various welfare institutions and homes for the aged; 2.46 million disabled people were receiving temporary aid, regular allowances and special allowances; and over 7.01 million impoverished disabled people were receiving assistance to solve their p
16、roblem of basic food and clothing. In 2003, governments at all levels earmarked 1.5 billion yuan for services for the disabled, and raised nearly 100 million yuan for social welfare funds. Germans Social Welfare THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL POLICY in Germany has followed a unique historical path. Durin
17、g a long process of growth and social experimentation, Germany combined a vigorous and highly competitive capitalist economy with a social welfare system that, with some exceptions, has provided its citizens cradle-to-grave security. The systems benefits are so extensive that by the 1990s annual tot
18、al spending by the state, employers, and private households on health care, pensions, and other aspects of what Germans call the social safety net amounted to roughly DM1 trillion (for value of the deutsche mark-see Glossary) and accounted for about one-third of the countrys gross national product (
19、GNP-see Glossary). Unlike many of the worlds advanced countries, however, Germany does not provide its citizens with health care, pensions, and other social welfare benefits through a centralized state-run system. Rather, it provides these benefits via a complex network of national agencies and a la
20、rge number of independent regional and local entities-some public, some quasi-public, and many private and voluntary. Many of these structures date from the nineteenth century, and some from much earlier. The legislation that established the basis of this system dates from the 1880s and was passed b
21、y imperial Germanys parliament, the Reichstag, with the dual purpose of helping German workers meet lifes vicissitudes （兴衰，浮沉） and thereby making them less susceptible （易受影响的）to socialism. This legislation set the main principles that have guided the development of social policy in Germany to the pr
22、esent day: membership in insurance programs is mandated by law; the administration of these programs is delegated （委派， 放权） to nonstate bodies with representatives of the insured and employers; entitlement to benefits is linked to past contributions rather than need; benefits and contributions are re
23、lated to earnings; and financing is secured through wage taxes levied on （征收） the employer and the employee and, depending on the program, sometimes through additional state financing. These insurance programs were developed from the bottom up. They first covered elements of the working class and th
24、en extended coverage to ever broader segments of the population and incorporated additional risks. Over time, these programs came to provide a wide net of entitlements to those individuals having a steady work history. By international standards, the German welfare system is comprehensive and genero
25、us. However, not everyone benefits equally. In the mid-1990s, the so-called safety net was deficient for the lower-income strata and the unemployed. It was also inadequate for persons needing what Germans term “social aid,“ that is, assistance in times of hardship. In 1994, for example, 4.6 million
26、persons needed social aid, a 100 percent increase since the 1980s. Germans who had been citizens of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany), which became part of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, or West Germany) in 1990, tend to be overrepresented in each of these groups. W
27、omen are more at a disadvantage than any other social group. This fact stems from the bias of German social insurance programs in favor of a male breadwinner model; most women receive social and health protection by virtue of their dependent status as spouse. Hence, despite the existence of a compre
28、hensive interlocking social net, women face inequalities in accruing （自然增加）benefits in their own right because of periods spent rearing children or caring for an elderly parent. Divorced women also fare poorly because of the welfare systems provisions, as do widows, whose pensions are low. In additi
29、on to these problems or shortcomings, Germanys social welfare and health programs have had to contend with the unification of the former West Germany and East Germany in 1990. West Germanys approach to social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance (which did not exist in the former GDR)
30、, accident insurance, and social aid and assistance has been applied to East Germany. This fact has meant that the complex and heterogeneous （ 不 同 种 类 的 ） organizational and financial arrangements present in the former West Germany to deliver health and social services have had to be built up in the
31、 former East Germany, in many cases entirely from scratch.（从头开始） The need for this extension of social welfare programs follows logically from the former East Germanys transition to a free-market economy in which employment, health care, and social insurance benefits have always been highly continge
32、nt （视 而定的）upon each other. In the absence of an East German democratic tradition and attitudes supportive of the new institutions and, as well, of adequate private organizational resources and skilled manpower, Germanys attempt to integrate two entirely different systems of social protection, educat
33、ion, and health care purely by means of law, administrative provisions, and financial resources is bound to produce problems for years to come. In the mid-1990s, representatives of Germanys political parties, businesses, unions, and voluntary social services agencies continued to wage a vigorous deb
34、ate over social policy. At issue is the role to be played by state and/or nongovernmental voluntary charitable agencies, churches, and other social service providers and how to find a politically acceptable mix of public and private institutions. Ever since the nineteenth century, especially during
35、periods of economic and social crisis, there has been a recurrent demand to shift from insurance-based programs to a universal flat-rate and tax-financed program in order to secure a minimum income for all. However, there has never been sufficient political support for eliminating insurance-based pr
36、ograms. In the postwar period, business groups and the Christian Democratic Union (Christlich Demo-kratische Union-CDU), with the exception of the left wing within the CDU, tended to support the continued segmentation of the labor force into separate insurance-based programs for various occupational
37、 groups. In contrast, the labor unions and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemo-kratische Partei Deutschlands-SPD) tended to support unitary programs for the entire labor force. The great costs of unification have raised the possibility of ending the steady expansion of social welfare
38、programs that had been going on for more than a century. The current conservative governing coalition （合并）has proposed reductions in benefits to finance unification. Other factors such as the increasingly competitive global economy and structural changes in the labor market have also raised question
39、s about the continued affordability of German social policy. As a result, the government is increasingly listening to employers who insist that their share of employee benefit payments be reduced in order that German business remain competitive in a global economy. The integration of the two entirel
40、y different education systems that emerged after the 1945 division of the country has also raised many controversial issues. No consensus （一致通过） has emerged on whether Germany should adopt the unified school system found in the former East Germany or the heterogeneous three-tiered system of the form
41、er West Germany. Nor is there consensus on whether to increase the number of school years by one year for students in eastern Germany or to reduce the thirteen years of schooling in western Germany to twelve years. A greater uniformity within the countrys education system is also needed because the
42、plethora （过多， 和 plenty 联想记忆） of school tracks and the diversity of curricula and qualifying examinations might indeed endanger the mobility of students and teachers within Germany and within Europe in general. 美国社会福利制度 美国现行的社会安全制度包括：年老(退休)保险(OLD AGE INSURANCE)、医疗 保险(MEDICAL INSURANCE)、残疾保险(DISABILIT
43、Y INSURANCE、遗族（即 死者家属）保险(SURVIVORS INSURANCE)、失业救济(UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION)和公共救济与福利(PUBLIC ASSISTANCE AND WELFARE) 六个主要项目，这些救济经费的来源主要是民众的捐税。社会安全税则由雇主和 雇员各分担一半，这些钱由政府征集后设立基金供各项福利措施支用。 (A)年老退休保险 当年满六十五岁，正式从服务的公司(必须是参加社会安全制度的公司)退休 时可以获得全额的国民保险年金，如果六十二岁就想退休时，可以获得八成的年 金，如果被保人死亡其遗族可以获得给付，当然给付金的数目视情况而定。
44、(B)医疗保险 接受社会安全制度之医疗保险者可以享受住院(或疗养院)治疗 90 天以内不 收费的保险，但不包括医生的治疗费用，不过 65 岁以上的公民每月仅花少许的 额外保费，即可获得该类保险。 另外有一项医疗保险措施系由联邦与州政府(亚利桑那州除外)共同为无力支 付医疗费用的公民承担其医疗费用。 (C)残疾保险 如果工人在一年或更长时间内无法工作时， 可以获得与年老退休者相同的年 金； 如果该工人系因工作时受了伤害以致无法工作时，可以获得额外的员工伤残 补助金。 这项补助金的保险费用是由雇主负担， 同时这项保险制度归州政府管理， 不在联邦社会安全法案的范围内。 (D)遗族保险 当工人死亡时，
45、其遗族可以获得按月津贴，给付金额视该工人之收入、子女 数与年龄而定。 (E)失业救济 失业工人在找到新工作这前每周可以获得失业补助金， 原则上不超过三十九 个星期。 这项补助措施是由州政府根据联邦政府的要求办理， 补助金额因州而异。 一般而言，每周不会超过一百元。 (F)公共救济 社会安全法案允许联邦政府支援各州政府去照顾需要接受救济者， 尤其是那 些有学龄儿童的贫困家庭，同时也对无力负担医疗费用的穷人提供医疗救济。 社会安全制度实行至今， 毁誉参半， 反对者谴责接受救济者懒惰、 不知进取。 他们认为花了大笔钱却仍无法消除贫穷，那不如把这项制度废除掉，美国前总统 里根就持着这种主张。 加拿大社
46、会福利制度 加拿大有着完善的社会福利制度，永久居民可以享受如下福利： 1.子女免费教育： 只要年龄在 5-19 岁之间的女子都能享受从幼儿园到十二年级的 免费教育。大学教育（包括研究生教育）：学费远远低于外国留学生，大约是留 学生的 30%-40%。 2.儿童福利金：加拿大政府向所有未满 18 岁的儿童提供儿童福利金（俗称牛奶 金）。具体金额根据各个家庭的收入而定。福利金无需交税。 3.老年基本福利补贴：凡 65 岁以上低收入或无收入的老人都可以申请这一项基 本收入补贴。 4.养老金计划：养老金计划是一种保险，受益人在其工作期间须交付一定的钱给 该计划，退休后按月受益。受益的金额取决于受益人曾
47、交付的金额。 5.失业救济保险：如您工作了一定的时间并交付了失业救济保险费，您在失业时 就可申请领取失业救济保险，同时可以免费参加一些就业再培训计划。 6.长期失业救济：给那些长期失业者提供食物、住房、燃料（汽油和煤气）、衣 物和药费等基本生活开支。 7.工伤补贴：加拿大对工作中受伤的人员提供财政、医疗和康复等方面的补贴， 申请人可凭医疗报告和因工受伤证明向政府有关部门申请。 8.免费医疗保险：加拿大是世界上医疗保健制度最完善的国家。基本上每个社区 都有很好的医院或诊所。参加此保险计划后，可以得到免费医疗服务，包括：就 诊费、各种化验、监察、手术费（住院费、伙食及护理费）等等全部由政府承担，
48、自己只须承担药费。 澳大利亚社会福利 孩子助养费：一个有孩子的家庭年收入不超过 65,000 澳元便可以领取，每 两周约 50-300 澳元/人，金额取决于孩子的年龄、数量和家庭的总收入和财产。 特别救济金：发放给生活有困难的人，新移民在其无法控制的情况下而导致 的状况改变时才可申领，每两周约 330 澳元/人。 失业救济金：每两周约 330 澳元/人。凡在工作年龄内，有工作能力，愿意 工作而找不到工作的人均可以领取，但新移民要等两年才有资格申领。 养老金：65 岁可以开始享用，能否领取养老金或领取的多少将根据个人收 入、资产而定，领取养老金的人可以得到优惠的医疗药品和其他卫生保健待遇， 其他
49、的优惠还有减收交通费、地方税、电费和汽车注册费等等。 分娩津贴：每分娩一个孩子时，可得到 950 澳元的一次性分娩津贴，以帮助 为新生儿增添用品。 此外，还有学习津贴、疾病和伤残津贴、灾难津贴、边远地区津贴、寡妇津 贴、看护津贴、配偶津贴、电话津贴、房租津贴、交通津贴、托儿津贴等。 大多数新移民要等两年才有资格申领部分社会保障付款， 其中包括失业救济 金和学习津贴，不包括医药津贴、孩子助养费、特别救济金、大学奖学金和学费 免息贷款。 澳洲政府所运作的福利，多数都是以津贴的形式来发放。政府的津贴品种繁 多，有家庭津贴、青年津贴、新开始津贴（失业者的福利）、生育津贴、免疫津 贴、家长补助、子女补助、托儿津贴、住房补助、残疾儿童津贴、护理人补助、 土著青年助学金、偏远地区儿童补助、健康护理卡、老年津贴、鳏寡津贴、残疾 人津贴、老年优惠卡、老年健康卡、电话补助、退伍军人津贴、孤儿养育津贴、 领津贴者的教育补助，等等。这样看，这些津贴虽然还没有详细到理发或买秋菜 的程度，但是，基本上，各种困难的情况都已经能覆盖得到了。 因为澳洲的家庭情况可能会很复杂，21 岁以下领青年津贴的人，也许就会有 了孩子， 所以各种津贴之间， 有的可以相互交叉， 有的互不兼容， 都有明细规定。 津贴的数额也随着申请人的收入、资产、婚姻
