
Originally Posted by
pollywogg
Entitlements/welfare seems to have caught interest in this thread... I love this subject too.
I can see how people get caught up in a dependent cycle with welfare when job opps are slim and healthcare costs are exhorbitant and PP0's are no longer accessible to the average citizen and even people with money would rather just not have it. Here's what I'm seeing in AZ:
A few people I know that receive food stamps said they are getting less than they used to and the health care is cutting back on coverages. They've also recently put more limits on eligibility than they had before. Our state was hit harder than most states after the real estate fiasco and our system is being flooded like never before with applications for benefits. And I'm sure there has been plenty of fraud going on prior to now because everyone I knew had awesome benefits. And it's historically been very easy to get these benefits. On top of all that, we have overall low wages here that have remained virtually unchanged for 20 years, while few employers offer healthcare benefits and the cost of PPO's has skyrocketed.
Our welfare healthcare system here is literally 100 percent free and the coverage is better than Blue Cross. I was on it for a short time, but am not now. For over 10 years I worked my ass off to pay for my health insurance and all the co pays (and everything else I provided with little to no financial help from the dad) and every year the premium kept going up and up.
PPO premiums are OOC... 10 years ago, I paid $300 a month for the best Blue Cross coverage you could get for one adult and two children. It was great and people were complaining about health care back then! That same coverage has risen to about $700 per month today and there are still limitations on coverage and copays and deductibles. I can make pretty decent money as a stripper, but I refuse. I'd rather set $700 aside every month and I'll just pay off any exhorbitant hospital bills myself. I'm looking at HSA's now actually. And unfortunately, Obamacare has taken away some of the things that were attractive benefits on those, why I don't know.
About the food stamps. Here's one way to cut unecessary spending ... do not allow the food stamps to be used for food that has no health value like soda, candy, ice cream, sugary cereals, chips etc ... seriously, the food stamps are supposed to help provide people with necessary nourishment. Not only that, but those kinds of foods encourage disease in the body and affects behavior and poor eating habits contribute to the need for healthcare... poor eating/exercise habits are in the top 3 of contributors to death according to a report by the CDC I read an article on. Need to look into that claim more closely. I heard about some controversy over this idea in another state ... NY, I think. Seriously, why would anyone object to omitting those kind of food items?
Here is the mindset. I truly believe this is what keeps people on the system and keeps them from reaching independence... If I had to choose between a job that paid me $500 more per month and one that paid less and kept me on that system... I'd keep the lower paying job with that kind of margin. If I were offered even $1200 more per month at a different job or with a raise, etc... and had to pay healthcare out of pocket, I'd still consider keeping the lower paying job that most likely comes with less responsibility/stress and investment on time. I need to be with my children. They need my time and attention. And most people's incomes do not increase that drastically and those opps are slim for the majority of peeps in AZ ... and don't get me started on how many strippers I know who are paying off student loans... what the hell did they go to school for? Most people in mainstream jobs receive increases in small increments over time and if one small increment gets you kicked off healthcare and food stamps, you could go into huge debt if you lost it and had to go without and ended up with some crazy hospital bill in between. Hospital fees are exhorbitant here too! I would not even want a raise frankly.
Another way to decrease the costs of welfare is to order fathers (non custodial) pay more realistic child support... or begin to take a look at fathers incomes more closely when the mothers are receiving the benefits. A lot of people seem to think that if a mother is receiving child support, she somehow won't be eligible for those welfare benefits, but they look at your overall income and even with the child support, most women still qualify for the welfare. The average amount of child support is only $300 per month anyone who has a child or two knows that that just is not that helpful. I get a large amount of child support and with a $10 per hour job, I still qualify. They don't go to the dad and say, hey you need to contribute to the welfare of your family. But, I can see how this would stir up problems for the mothers with the X's who resent contributing already. Thankfully, not everyone is of this mindset, but it seems very common and pretty much all the split couples I know have this issue or worse... those that do get along and work toward the benefit of everyone involved are the exception to the rule.
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