Reasons to Get Rid of Welfare
Welfare in the United States dates back to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who implemented various federal programs to assist those in economic need. Welfare includes various entitlement programs, including health care (Medicaid), food stamps, unemployment, child care, housing assistance and direct cash aid. Welfare proponents and critics debate the success and failure of welfare programs and dispute the political, social, moral and economic effects of welfare. While many believe welfare should be reformed, some believe that it should be abolished altogether.
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Poverty
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The United States has spent more than $16 trillion on welfare since the War on Poverty began in 1964, according the Heritage Foundation. Yet, poverty rates have increased since then, indicating that welfare has failed to reduce poverty. To the contrary, many critics argue, welfare engenders poverty because it fails to incentivize productivity. Many welfare recipients have no initiative to work, since they receive checks from the state or federal government. As a result, they are never able to overcome their poverty, and poverty becomes generational. Ending welfare, critics argue, is the best means of reducing poverty, since it motivates individuals to be productive and improve their economic circumstances.
Costs to Society
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Welfare creates a culture of dependency that hurts national productivity. President Bill Clinton, who signed the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, credits anti-welfare legislation for improving the national economy by increasing rates of employment and overall economic productivity. Other costs to society include the class division that entitlement programs engender. Many productive workers and taxpayers resent welfare recipients because they believe welfare recipients burden society and have their hands in the pockets of hardworking Americans. Welfare critics also argue that welfare reduces charitable giving, since wealthy persons feel less generous when taxed so onerously.
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Economic Costs
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Welfare programs are very costly. In 2010, $72.5 billion was spent on food stamps alone, according to the Cato Institute. Welfare costs also include Medicaid programs, which cost $400 billion annually. In addition to the costs of welfare distributions, administrative costs of regulating and implementing welfare programs exist on the federal and the state level. The high costs of welfare programs result in higher taxes, which can stifle economic activity and lead to higher rates of unemployment and increased need for government aid.
Ironically, welfare programs perpetuate the poor economic circumstances that they are designed to alleviate. Welfare programs are also responsible for inflating the healthcare costs, since Medicaid's flat rates force healthcare providers to increase rates for insurers, according to an article published in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. An end to welfare would result in a return to competitive markets and make medical care more affordable.
Fraud and Abuse
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Another reason for critcism of welfare its vulnerability fraud and abuse. Individuals commit welfare fraud by withholding or misrepresenting information in order to qualify for aid. Doctors and healthcare providers may commit Medicaid fraud by making erroneous claims to recover costs for care or services that were not rendered. Welfare abuse is the intentional, if perhaps not illegal, exploitation of welfare services. For instance, a woman may deliberately have another child in order to receive more welfare funds or, although able-bodied, make no effort to obtain employment in order to continue to receive welfare benefits.
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References
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