The New America Foundation released two new policy papers from its recently launched Next Social Contract Initiative today at a public event held in Washington. The two papers are the first in what is an ongoing project to understand how the American social contract has evolved, why it fails to meet the needs of Americans needs today, and how it can be reinvented for the conditions of a largely postindustrial and increasingly diverse society. 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 explores the origins of our modern social contract, articulates the guiding principles for constructing a new contract, and advances a set of promising policy reforms.

In a paper entitled “A Citizen-Based Social Contract” Michael Lind, New America’s Whitehead Senior Fellow, presents the case for ensuring that the next social contract is citizen-based. Lind argues that accessing public benefits does not depend on where you live, where you work or what your religious beliefs are.

“The next social contract should help to promote the fulfillment of “the promise of American life”—the promise of opportunity coupled with responsibility for all Americans, states Lind. "The next American social contract, building on the successes of the past, should better enable new generations to achieve enduring American goals.”

In a Policy Proposal entitled “A Sustainable Health System for All Americans” Len Nichols, Director of New America’s Health Policy Program, argues that America’s health care system fails to meet the standards set by its peers around the world. He states that it delivers substandard patient care far too often, leaves tens of millions uninsured, and its rising cost growth threatens the foundations of the U.S. economy and society.

“Unless we move toward comprehensive, system-wide reform, we will continue to waste billions of dollars and thousands of lives every year in a health care system that is riddled with inefficiencies, states Nichols. "A health care system for the Next Social Contract should correct these deficiencies by expanding coverage, creating better incentives for quality and efficiency, and linking health insurance to individuals, rather than to their place of employment.”

Nichols' health policy work and his call for an individual purchase requirement, a reformed delivery system, and a new insurance marketplace has influenced many recent policy discussions at both the state and federal level.