Means-tested Welfare Is on the Increase in America

Cost is one reason welfare is America's fundamental problem. The welfare controversy -- is it a needed safety-net for the vulnerable or does it discourage people from being self-sufficient. Whatever your position, you should care about the second reason welfare is America's fundamental problem -- a rising percentage of Americans are receiving some form of welfare. ~~~~~ Yesterday, we learned that a University of California at Berkeley 2015 study found that of the $152.8 billion a year spent by states and the federal government on food stamps, health insurance, and cash assistance programs, half goes to working families who can't survive on their income. Other Americans receive welfare in the form of Medicaid, food stamps, housing assistance, and cash assistance programs -- the programs Berkeley studied. The report doesn’t cover the full range of US welfare, but it gives a good picture of who receives major forms of public assistance. ~~~~~ (1). In 2012, 20+% of the US population received welfare -- 52.2 million Americans -- with 15% receiving Medicaid and 13% food stamps, but just 1% getting cash. A report by the Department of Health and Human Services found that in 2011, 5.2% of the total US population was receiving more than half their total income in cash benefits, food stamps, or SSI. (2). The number of Americans receiving welfare is growing -- in 2009, 18.6% were receiving at least one means-tested benefit, rising to 21.3% in 2012. (3). The 2012 average monthly benefit was $404/month. Those receiving SSI (mostly disabled people who can’t work) averaged the most — $698/month. As of 2015, 8.3 million Americans were receiving SSI. (4). Children receive more welfare -- 39% of children received welfare benefits on average in 2012, compared to 17% of adults aged 18-64 and 12.6% of the +65 age group. Children also received larger average monthly benefits than adults aged 18-64 -- $447 vs. $393. (5). Many receive benefits for more than a year -- in 2012, 43% had been receiving benefits for 3 to 4 years, while 30% had been on welfare for a year or less. Half those receiving housing benefits had been getting them for three years or more. But, just 10% received cash for three years or more. (6). Families led by single parents were more likely to receive benefits -- 58% of families led by an unmarried mother and 37% headed by an unmarried father received benefits for at least one month during 2012, compared to 20% of families headed by a married couple. (7). Single mothers received less in monthly benefits -- an average of $337, compared to $447 for households headed by single men and $380 for married couples. But, families led by single mothers received benefits longer -- 58% for three years or more, compared to 35.2% of single father households and 34.8% of married couple households. (8). People who attend college were less likely to receive welfare -- 13% receiving welfare in 2012 had attended college for at least one year, compared to 45% who didn’t graduate from high school, who were also more likely to be long-term recipients. (9). African Americans were more likely to receive welfare -- in 2012, an average of 41.6%, compared to 36% of Hispanics of any race, 18% of Asians or Pacific Islanders, and 13% of whites who received benefits in any month. ~~~~~ Dear readers, if we consider ALL means-tested welfare, in 2012, the 109,631,000 welfare-receivers outnumbered the 103,087,000 full-time year-round US workers (including 16,606,000 government workers) by 6,544,000. Another comparison -- in 2013, the 38,332,521 people in California, 26,448,193 in Texas, 19,651,127 in New York, and 19,552,860 in Florida (a combined 103,984,701) were 5,646,299 fewer than the 109,631,000 people on welfare. In the 4th quarter of 2008, when President Obama was elected, 96,197,000 people were receiving means-tested welfare. By the 4th quarter of 2012, an additional 13,434,000 received welfare, more than the 12,882,13 people in Illinois, Obama's home state. ~~ What about immigrants and welfare? Tomorrow.