Making the Social Contract Citizen-Based

America’s social contract — the complex, largely unwritten deal between workers, employers, and government that gives individuals the security they need to navigate a dynamic economy — is eroding. The arrangements of our existing social contract no longer make sense in an economy characterized by global labor markets, shortened job tenure, heightened capital mobility, rapid technological change, and increased pressure for short-term profits. Ensuring that every American can access the goods and services necessary to enjoy a productive and enterprising life should not depend on where you work, where you live, or what you believe. The American social contract should be citizen-based.

One of the most glaring shortcomings of the current social contract is the link between health care and employment status. Creating a citizen-based social contract will require remaking our health care system so it becomes sustainable and accessible, one where health care benefits are portable and tied to the individual, rather than to his or her place of employment. Such a system can be built upon the essential pillars of personal responsibility and shared responsibility. Mandates to buy insurance and subsidies to help people afford to do so will be balanced with the creation of an insurance marketplace that is affordable and a delivery system that works in terms of both cost and quality.

At this event, the New America Foundation released two papers from The Next Social Contract Initiative. The first explores why the next social contract should be citizen-based and the second offers a detailed proposal to do so by starting with reforming our health care system.

The Next Social Contract Initiative aims to reinvent American social policy for the twenty-first century. Through a program of research and public education, the initiative will explore the origins of our modern social contract, articulate the guiding principles for constructing a new contract, and advance a set of promising policy reforms.

Participants

• Len M. Nichols
  Director, Health Policy Program, New America Foundation
  Author, "A Sustainable Health System for All Americans"
• Michael Lind
  Whitehead Senior Fellow, New America Foundation
  Author, "A Citizen-Based Social Contract"
• Mark Ugoretz
  President
  The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC)
• Charles E.M. Kolb
  President
  Committee for Economic Development
• Elise Gould
  Economist
  Economic Policy Institute
• Mary Kay Henry
  Executive Vice President
  SEIU
• Michael Calabrese
  Co-Director, The Next Social Contract Initiative
  New America Foundation
• Reid Cramer
  Co-Director, The Next Social Contract Initiative
  New America Foundation