The phrase “general assistance” can refer to a broad array of services and benefits. For purposes of our site, we’ll focus in on general welfare and public welfare benefit payments offered through a wide variety of government-sponsored programs. Most welfare programs in the Untied States can be traced back to the Great Depression and a series of “New Deal” pieces of legislation passed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Congress. These programs include Food Stamps (now formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), Social Security Disability Insurance (“SSDI”), Social Security Retirement Benefits, Supplemental Security Income (“SSI”) benefits, unemployment benefits, the Temporary Assistance For Needy Families (“TANF”) program (formerly known as the AFDC Program), the WIC program, Medicare, Medicaid and many more.
Although it would be too long of an article to discuss each of these different programs in detail, we have other articles on our site that do break down each of these. In this article we will go over some of the similar trends with these programs, including the general eligibility requirements most of them ask applicants to meet before they are able to receive any type of benefit.
In almost all cases (unless we are working with some type of entitlement program – more on those below) these general assistance programs will require you to show that your income is below a certain threshold each month and that you own less than a particular amount of assets. In some cases, the income limits are fixed regardless of the size of your household while other programs (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in particular) increase the allowable income you are able to retain while still qualifying for compensation. Another difference in the income requirement is whether the standard is a nationalized one (like it typically is for SSI or Medicaid payments) or is tied to the local cost of living adjustments of the city and state that you live in (like it typically is for SSDI).
In regards to the amount of assets you are allowed to retain, some general welfare and public welfare programs allow you to only have up to a total amount of assets, regardless of what kind of asset it is. Alternatively, some programs consider some assets as “non-countable” and look only at “countable” holdings when determining whether you qualify for benefits or not. For example, SSI and Medicaid do not count one automobile and your home (if you own it instead of rent) for purposes of whether you qualify for benefits under their respective programs. You need to look at these different considerations when you are trying to figure out whether you will qualify for any type of general assistance program or not.
Entitlement Assistance Programs
Not all welfare programs ask you to show that you qualify for compensation. Some are automatic upon you hitting a certain age or status. For example, Social Security Retirement compensation will come to you if you hit a certain age and have earned a sufficient amount of Social Security income during your working life. Additionally, Medicare is an entitlement program for individuals who need health care coverage and are age 65 or older. Although you do no need to show that you meet certain eligibility rules, these entitlement programs can still be considered a type of general assistance program offered by the United States government.
Source: urban.org/publications/307036.html
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