Since the passage of New Deal legislation by Congress and President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression, a spawn of general welfare and social welfare programs have sprung up throughout the United States. Some of these programs include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, TANF benefits (“Temporary Assistance For Needy Families”), Social Security Disability (“SSDI”) payments, Supplemental Security Income (“SSI”), Medicaid, unemployment insurance and the WIC Program.
Although each of these programs will have their own individual requirements and provide different benefits, there is a clear trend when each of them are examined as to how you qualify. In short, each of these programs will require you to show, at a minimum, two things. First, that your income is below a certain threshold level and second that the assets owned by you and others within your household are under a given amount. Each of these two main requirements will be discussed in more detail below.
It should not come as a surprise that each of these welfare programs are only available to individuals who have little income themselves and need assistance from the government. In some instances, such as unemployment benefits, Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and TANF, federal laws outline how the program works and each individual state is given the discretion as to how much income the applicant can earn and still remain eligible for compensation and/or benefits. For other programs, including SSDI, the WIC Program and more, the income will be pretty uniform across each state.
For many of these programs, the income will be tied to the Federal Poverty income guidelines. These guidelines are produced by the Department of Health and Human Services and used for Medicaid, SNAP, TANF and more. In all cases, the income level you must be under will be some type of percentage above the federal poverty level (such as 125%, 185%, 200%, etc.). These levels, as well as the federal poverty level itself, fluctuate annually and should be checked as your circumstances change and you need to apply for different welfare programs.
For programs that are not tied to the federal poverty guidelines you will need to check with the rules of that particular program to see whether you meet its particular welfare requirements.
Welfare Asset Limitations
If you meet income limitations welfare requirements of your particular program, you need to also look to see whether any limits exist on the type and/or amount of assets you can own as well. Many programs, including Medicaid, SSI, SSDI and the TANF program will exclude you from compensation or benefits if you have too much in “countable assets”. Assets that are countable will generally include just about any typical item that an average person would consider to be an “asset”, such as stocks, bonds, bank account balances, cash value inside a life insurance policy, real estate holdings and more. However, two key “non-countable” assets usually include your personal residence (if you own the home) and one household vehicle. Some programs, including SSI and Medicaid, also allow you to have a minimal amount of cash in the bank, usually between $2,000 and $3,000. Beyond the non-countable assets, having anything that is considered “countable” will automatically exclude you from qualifying for benefits under these general welfare programs.
For more information on the public welfare requirements of the particular program you are interested in, see your state’s department of welfare or the federal agency website of the program you want benefits from.
Source: acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/laws_policies/
Related posts:
