Benefits

The word “benefits” can refer to a broad array of matters.  However, in recent years the deteriorating economic climate of the United States has brought general welfare programs to the forefront of people’s minds when they think of benefits. Both the federal and state governments in the United States offer a wide variety of benefit programs to assist people on various levels of need. These benefit programs include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (otherwise known as the “Food Stamp” program), the TANF program (which replaced the AFDC program), the Social Security Administration Supplemental Security Income program, and the WIC program. Each of the social welfare programs will be discussed in more detail below.

SNAP Program

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program offers vouchers which beneficiaries can use to purchase food every month. These food stamps help ensure that both individuals and families who meet programs eligibility requirements will have enough to eat. This program was born out of the Great Depression of the 1930s at a time when many Americans lacked clean and adequate food and many suffered from starvation. The program is grown from a $75 million budget in 1964 to billions of dollars today and remains a staple of the American general welfare program.  With increases in technology, most of the program is now administered electronically and recipients can even check food stamp balance limits online.

TANF Program

The TANF program offers cash assistance on a temporary basis to families who are considered “low income”. The primary purpose of the program is to encourage the birth of children between a husband and wife, to ensure that children born into a family have sufficient means to live, and to assist people who currently have low incomes with increasing their income and reducing their dependency upon government benefits. To further this goal current laws limit individuals from receiving TANF benefits for more than a total of 60 months. As was stated above, the TANF program replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (“AFDC”) program back in 1997.

Supplemental Security Income Program

The Social Security Administration manages the Supplemental Security Income program. This is just one of many welfare programs the Administration overseas and offers to its citizens. For those who qualify for its benefits individuals receive a flat sum of compensation each month which they can spend as they see fit. The main idea of this program is to ensure that people have a minimum amount of income each month to spend for vital needs such as food, clothing and shelter. The requirements to receive these benefits is quite strict and individuals must have an extremely low income and very little and assets (sometimes as little as $2000 to their name).

The Effect of These Benefits

There is a debate between economists regarding the overall effect of these various benefit programs. Are they helping or hurting? Some argue that the programs increase dependency upon the government and the benefits it offers while others argue that they reduce or otherwise restrict access to these programs would further limit and deteriorate the fragile economic conditions United States currently faces.  Unfortunately, there are no “welfare facts” when it comes to this debate yet.

Another consistent issue that each of these benefits programs must face his welfare abuse. This kind of fraud can manifest itself both in false information being put on applications for benefits and that individuals keeping benefits or certain amount of benefits for a duration longer than they should. This is a rampant problem of the government continually struggles to contain and control. Unfortunately, it appears that welfare abuse will exist as long as these benefits programs do.

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