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I'm a social worker and I don't think our government coddles people at all. I'm reposting this from galaxyhi because it's comparable to my experiences with people on TANF.
I'm not sure how it works in other states, but in Maryland the process to get welfare is very complicated and long. You don't just apply online and you're done. You have to show up, in person, to each individual office you're applying to and they can be 10+ miles apart, hard to get to.
There are separate offices for WIC, Medicaid, Heating/Cooling, cell phone assistance, rental income assistance, childcare assistance. The workers who work there are poorly educated and underpaid. Sometimes they lose not just your paperwork, but important documents like your Social Security Card. If you forget to bring one document, you have to leave and come back and start the process over again. Have you ever gone to the DMV before everything became more automated? It's kind of like that, but with separate entities. You have to reapply every year. If you actually qualify, you're given the bare minimum to cover expenses.
Also WIC in Maryland is very basic. They only subsidize one type and brand of formula and if your baby is allergic to it (which happens often), you're on your own. You get 8oz of cheese (it must be WIC approved, so no fancy, expensive cheeses and they must be solid, no jalapeños or anything in them), 2 cartons of cereal, a can or bag of beans, whole milk (cannot be anything but whole), eggs (the cheapest dozens), 1 jar peanut butter, 2 cans tuna fish and a $10 voucher for vegetables and fruit biweekly. That's it. No meat. No anything else than what I just described.
So I don't know the answer to your question. But I think the US government is far from coddling welfare recipients, so no worries there.
Violett,
It is a long hard process here, too. One must gather together documents to prove who you are,that you are {or not} a citizen of the USA, where you live {unless homeless and even then they want to know which bridge to look under}},what your utilities are, etc etc.
When I first applied I was denied 4 times, and the fifth if I hadn't put up a stink, and the fact that I WAS homeless, I wouldn't have gotten the expedited benefits!
It takes about 15 pieces of paper to do so. YOU are right, If you lack one, and they have a sneaky way of coming up with SOMETHING you don't have with you just to send you away again, so it is NOT easy as you say.
Then there is the applications process for each item {the freebies the groaning taxpayers complain of} as you describe.
IT used to be you got cash benefits and snap and HEAP, that was 3 applications. That was it. Now as you mention they have many listed.
This fall I got a notice in the mail for HEAP application renewal.I asked why this year I/we got it sent to us in the mail? SHe said "because you are disabled". I said funny, I have always had to get or print off the application in the past 13 years while disabled, why the change now?
We missed HEAP this year as the outgoing county denied us due to moving, and the incoming county didn't have it ready to accept as we had NO utility bill until last week, it is to late now to apply really,
Last year we applied the third week of Nov just after "open season", and by the middle of March they had NOT approved or even looked at our pending application!!! When we called for the fifth time, she expedited it for us while on the phone.
She claimed they 'were just so overwhelmed and the adjunct agency that used to, but didn't handle applications this time around". Since we didn't have a SHUTOFF notice, we were pushed to the bottom of the pile, though we were well qualified! SO we said you mean we have to refuse to pay our bill to get it DONE? she said "well, that's one way".
I finally HAve it down pat, copies of all required documents are included in my 'package" to them. Each year however, they have to call the Capitol to find out that the REIMBURSEMENT for mileage and ancillaries My spouse gets is NOT to be 'included in income" !!! Reimbursement DOESN'T really cover the cost of the car, maintenance and such for MOH to use for work with the special needs people.
It is NOT easy to get , as many who have never had it THINK it is.
We ARE the working poor. We just make too much to qualify for food stamps, the last time all we got was the minimum $16 a month again what does that buy???? FOr two people??
I think it is somewhat amusing the misconceptions the "taxpayers" have about the system, the whole process, and what it means to the receiver....all they can do is complain about "supporting someone else" with their taxpaying dollars.
YOU BETCHA they'd be FIRST in line to get money if the government offered a "freebie" to them!
I wonder how many work for NO-BID gov't contractors???? THAT is a government handout if there ever was one!
How many are the higher executives at a company that pays low wages to someone routinely?
HOW many CREATE good paying jobs?
I would LOVE to see them try and qualify with no income source, and sketchy living situation, and go through the process and REALLY SEE what it is all about, then try to LIVE on those benefits ONLY for at least 6 months! It MIGHT open their eyes wide!
WELL< GUESS WHAT? WE ARE taxpayers too, and QUALIFY for some of these programs!
I have about tired of this thread.
It's my understanding that most of the people on food stamps get extra money for the non food items. I got curious when I first saw a Latino family with about 8 kids and 3 grocery carts and had non food items , and used the card. Someone said they thought you couldn't use a food card for those things, and the cashier said "They can. They get cash benefits too." I couldn't believe that, so I looked it up, and sure enough, they do. I don't know if you have to have a certain amount of kids (they seem to get a lot) or any of the details. I had never heard of anyone getting that before, even working closely with people needing help. They always got regular food stamps, no extra cash.
"I have seen people purchase non-food items with an EBT card. I thought SNAP was only for food?"
Yes. SNAP benefits are only for food. However, some people have an EBT card for their TAFDC (cash assistance) benefits. You can use TAFDC benefits to purchase food and non-food items. For information on TAFDC eligibility, contact your local DTA office.
For a comprehensive list of permissible foods to purchase with your SNAP benefits, please visit the USDA website.
My disability goes on my EBT card. In order not to waste gas trying to find an ATM to get the cash off the card, I will often buy something I need at the grocery store with the cash portion and then get back as much cash as I can get. I've had more than one cashier or customer ask me why I'm getting cash off my food card. And if you're wondering why I get cash off the card from my disability amount, it's because I also need to get a MO for my car insurance, my computer bill, and for my rent. And MOs can only be bought with cash.
I haven't read the whole thread, so forgive me it this has been brought up before.
Being on food stamps, I would say no to a food stamp or welfare store. That's because all stores will have sales and I can imagine those sales many times being cheaper than a welfare store.
First off, I'll say I'm very lucky in the number of grocery stores in my area. Within about 7 miles, I have a Winco, Safeway, Ralph's Red Apple, Grocery Outlet, Fred Meyer, and Trader Joe's. If I want to go a little further, there is an Albertson's. A little further than that, and I can shop at QFC or Central Market.
What I do about a week before I go shopping, is make a list of what I'm out of and what I need. Sometimes I will want to try a new recipe and I make sure to list the ingredients if I don't have them. Then the night before I go shopping, I make a list of all the stores and their sales for that week. We get the sales brochure for Safeway and the rest I look up on the computer. After that, I sort the respective items I need to which stores are having which sales and what's left over, I get at Winco because I know they'll have the lowest cost of anything that's not on sale.
Then when I have an idea of what order I want to shop in, I take off for what is usually a major shopping trip. Most of the time I spend almost the whole amount of my food stamps in one monthy shopping trip. Sometimes I have about $15 to $20 left over so I can pick up something I forgot or run out of later on. But I usually spend between 3 to 5 hours shopping (it's just me I'm shopping for) and I don't always need to go out to a store again for the rest of the month.
One of the reasons why I would say no to a welfare store is because I would probably end up spending a lot more money. Even though Winco is cheap on many of their groceries, for instance, I would still save by going to Safeway if they had a sale on shredded cheese, which is what happened this month. So when you tell people they aren't allowed to shop in stores where the food might be cheaper, you are now causing them to spend more money on occasion and in the end, that will result in an increase in food stamps to people.
Secondly, yanking out everyone who uses an EBT card in a grocery store and not allowing them to shop there will be pulling at least half the shoppers out. I don't know many businesses that can survive their sales falling by half. If they do, it's by raising prices to make up the difference. That affects the rest of you and it could even result in more people ending up on food stamps.
Third, by going around to different stores, I am saving myself food and money. I used to shop by going to the nearest store and buying whatever I needed no matter what it cost. Now that I've learned to cut corners, I am probably going to be shopping for groceries like this for the rest of my life, because I've realized how much it actually does save. Not only that but if I ever move, I'm going to make sure I move to a city where there are a number of different grocery stores around. I've come to see that having a variety of stores instead of just one in a city or town is as important to my budgeting as picking a place with lower rent.
When I first got on food stamps, I shopped the way I always had and bought the food I always had. After a couple months, I got tired of running out of food every month. I decided to start cooking, for one thing, and also to start price shopping for another. That was almost 18 months ago.
Last December, for the first time I found I didn't even need to go to the grocery store for one large shopping trip. Instead, I had enough in my cupboards to only stop at the store when I needed something or ran out and I went into January with money left over. Food stamps come out on the 4th and I'd found I was shopping later and later in the month as time went by. This month I had an angiogram on the 4th and with one thing or the other, I didn't actually get to shop until about the 15th. This time I spent almost everything that was on the card and the extra I had, but I won't have to shop now until the 15th of next month.
That means I am not running out of food anymore by the 29th or 30th of the month and having to eat pancake mix for a week till food stamps get put on again. I now have enough food to not only last me to the 4th, but beyond.
People who aren't on food stamps don't always realize that if you are on food stamps, you eat everything in your cupboards, your fridge, and your freezer. Everything. I don't have a pantry. I can't look in my cupboards and say, "Gee, there's a can of beans I can use to make something for dinner tonight." That's because every bit of food is earmarked for a meal. If I have a jar of spaghetti sauce and I got it to make spaghetti, I can't use it up for meatballs because that's the only jar I have and I won't be able to get another one for another month.
I have a friend that would get very concerned about me because my cupboard and fridge would be literally empty on the 4th. She used to ask me what would happen if I couldn't get to the store on the 4th. Well, I found out. I went into the hospital with an aneurysm on the 3rd two years ago and when I got out of the hospital after a week, the first thing I had to do was shop for food, because there was nothing at home.
I don't have to worry about that now. Thanks to learning to cook and how to budget my food, I am almost 2 weeks ahead of my food stamps. And I'll tell you guys straight out, if I hadn't had the different stores to shop at and do that budgeting at, I'd be doing a lot less cooking and budgeting and spending a lot more money.
I know this was long, so if you've read this far, thanks.
Secondly, yanking out everyone who uses an EBT card in a grocery store and not allowing them to shop there will be pulling at least half the shoppers out. I don't know many businesses that can survive their sales falling by half. If they do, it's by raising prices to make up the difference. That affects the rest of you and it could even result in more people ending up on food stamps.
Amen to that:
Quote:
In addition to being the nation’s largest retailer, Walmart likely takes in the most food stamp dollars—an estimated 18 percent last year, according to leaked comments from a company vice president at a private dinner last fall, which Walmart later confirmed. That sum would amount to $13 billion, or about 4 percent of Walmart’s total U.S. sales.
It would be far simpler to basically program the EBT card system to correspond to the bar code of approved items at a store. You can ONLY purchase certain items. We had this WIC program where you could only buy certain things.
The EBT program can be joined by any company. As long as it's food staples. Cheese regular meats, juices etc. no soda pop, junk food, designer food.
So if the bar code isn't a approved bar code you can't buy it. Or you gotta pay for it yourself. It will automatically stop any cigarette alcohol expensive foods as that bar code isn't allowed. The allowed items would be generic store brand stuff. Hell stores can simply put a orange backed shelf price tag to tell you what is the EBT approved.
I watched this show where this young, healthy, adult man was out driving his Caddy, surfing, having fun all week then was buying lobster. He was calling it EBT lobster. Guy knew how to work the system.
And there needs to be a time limit on how long you can be in welfare.
It would be far simpler to basically program the EBT card system to correspond to the bar code of approved items at a store. You can ONLY purchase certain items. We had this WIC program where you could only buy certain things.
The EBT program can be joined by any company. As long as it's food staples. Cheese regular meats, juices etc. no soda pop, junk food, designer food.
So if the bar code isn't a approved bar code you can't buy it. Or you gotta pay for it yourself. It will automatically stop any cigarette alcohol expensive foods as that bar code isn't allowed. The allowed items would be generic store brand stuff. Hell stores can simply put a orange backed shelf price tag to tell you what is the EBT approved.
I watched this show where this young, healthy, adult man was out driving his Caddy, surfing, having fun all week then was buying lobster. He was calling it EBT lobster. Guy knew how to work the system.
And there needs to be a time limit on how long you can be in welfare.
Welfare is not equal to food stamps.
As to the time limit, are you referring to food stamps or welfare or both?
And what do you want to do about people like me? I applied for disability in September of 2012. I'm still waiting on a decision.
It would be far simpler to basically program the EBT card system to correspond to the bar code of approved items at a store. You can ONLY purchase certain items. We had this WIC program where you could only buy certain things.
The EBT program can be joined by any company. As long as it's food staples. Cheese regular meats, juices etc. no soda pop, junk food, designer food.
So if the bar code isn't a approved bar code you can't buy it. Or you gotta pay for it yourself. It will automatically stop any cigarette alcohol expensive foods as that bar code isn't allowed. The allowed items would be generic store brand stuff. Hell stores can simply put a orange backed shelf price tag to tell you what is the EBT approved.
I watched this show where this young, healthy, adult man was out driving his Caddy, surfing, having fun all week then was buying lobster. He was calling it EBT lobster. Guy knew how to work the system.
And there needs to be a time limit on how long you can be in welfare.
WIC is a program for pregnant women and children under 5. It is managed through vouchers which allow the recipient to use for very limited quantities of baby formula, milk, cheese, cereal and vegetables. It requires re-certification by a physician every 6 months. The limited foods available on WIC are not intended to represent a healthy or adequate diet.
Do you really think that we need to decide what other adults can eat? If you are worried about their health, then let's talk about banning pop and snack food for everyone because when you only recommend those dietary restrictions for people on SNAP benefits it sounds an awful lot like you want to punish the poor or make sure they 'remember' how benevolent taxpayers are to give them anything at all. You can't buy cigarettes alcohol or non-food items with SNAP benefits.
You saw a guy on TV..ok, well as of 2016 unless he is disabled or over 50 if he's single he won't be getting SNAP benefits- problem solved. And a single adult has NEVER been able to get cash aid, not one penny. The only thing that a non disabled, non elderly adult can get is medical care and food stamps for 3 months every 36 months. Only parents with children get cash benefits and it ain't much cash
All cash benefits are limited, there is a federal maximum of 60 months, but states can impose shorter periods of eligibility. For example, Arizona only allows welfare benefits for 12 months, Nevada 24, Connecticut 21.
It would be far simpler to basically program the EBT card system to correspond to the bar code of approved items at a store. You can ONLY purchase certain items. We had this WIC program where you could only buy certain things.
The EBT program can be joined by any company. As long as it's food staples. Cheese regular meats, juices etc. no soda pop, junk food, designer food.
So if the bar code isn't a approved bar code you can't buy it. Or you gotta pay for it yourself. It will automatically stop any cigarette alcohol expensive foods as that bar code isn't allowed. The allowed items would be generic store brand stuff. Hell stores can simply put a orange backed shelf price tag to tell you what is the EBT approved.
I watched this show where this young, healthy, adult man was out driving his Caddy, surfing, having fun all week then was buying lobster. He was calling it EBT lobster. Guy knew how to work the system.
And there needs to be a time limit on how long you can be in welfare.
Because no poor person ever has had a specialized diet, food allergies, or food restrictions. No, they HAVE to eat the generic peanut butter even if they're allergic to peanuts! Poor people have to eat what we TELL them to eat! And they should be grateful, right?
As for your last paragraph, that is BS and you know it. Post the link to the tv show and prove it, or stop telling lies.
It would be far simpler to basically program the EBT card system to correspond to the bar code of approved items at a store. You can ONLY purchase certain items. We had this WIC program where you could only buy certain things.
The EBT program can be joined by any company. As long as it's food staples. Cheese regular meats, juices etc. no soda pop, junk food, designer food.
So if the bar code isn't a approved bar code you can't buy it. Or you gotta pay for it yourself. It will automatically stop any cigarette alcohol expensive foods as that bar code isn't allowed. The allowed items would be generic store brand stuff. Hell stores can simply put a orange backed shelf price tag to tell you what is the EBT approved.
I watched this show where this young, healthy, adult man was out driving his Caddy, surfing, having fun all week then was buying lobster. He was calling it EBT lobster. Guy knew how to work the system.
And there needs to be a time limit on how long you can be in welfare.
You are very ignorant. There is a time limit for welfare, five years lifetime limit, plus there are limits on each instance, but they vary by state.
You also appear to not visit supermarkets very often, because the store brand is rarely the best deal.
You are very ignorant. There is a time limit for welfare, five years lifetime limit, plus there are limits on each instance, but they vary by state.
You also appear to not visit supermarkets very often, because the store brand is rarely the best deal.
Here it is just 2 years, unless disabled or elderly or under age 16. If under age 16 I believe they amended it so they can have services for up to 2 years as an adult, too. That way they are not penalized for it.
The store brand or generic brand is often higher cost than the name brand. Walmart is noted for pricing their bands higher than the name brand, assumably so that people on tight budgets will buy the more expensive store brand THINKING It is cheaper. You have to watch your prices codings and compare.
As to the time limit, are you referring to food stamps or welfare or both?
And what do you want to do about people like me? I applied for disability in September of 2012. I'm still waiting on a decision.
In your earlier post, you said your disability was put on your food card. Now you're saying you're still waiting on a decision.
If food stamps aren't welfare, what are they called? Are EBT and food stamps the same thing? Some people get their utilities paid for. Is that welfare? Are free medical benefits welfare? Some people don't have to work and live completely off the government, so why wouldn't it all be welfare? If you're illegal, you can even retire after never working, and get retirement from the social security citizens have paid in. It's a crazy system.
No one should go hungry in this land of plenty. It sounds like you do a great job with your food stamps. They should hire people like you to teach others on welfare how to shop. I don't think theres a time limit in my state for being on food stamps. I'll have to check and see. If people don't make enough money, they have to have help. I don't think it's that big a deal, but I've always helped others. We grew up doing that. I think it should be that way. Who knows, we all may need help one day. I also don't begrudge anyone some junk food, but I do think everyone who's able, should have to do something to earn these food stamps, unless they are elderly or disabled.
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