Staying single to collect welfare benefits

[Cruise]

Birth control is easy to come by

But common sense and personal responsibility is getting rarer and rarer....

 

[aceys_h0ney]

In my state that would be illegal. If you live with someone you have to count the income of all people in the household married or not. My neighbor down the street tried to get me to sign a paper for her, I went to sign it and noticed she did not have her boyfriend listed. It was a paper stating the names of the people who lived in her residence. You have to have a neighbor not a friend sign it. I refused, she said she would lose a big chunk of her benifits if she had to report his pay. Made me sick.

 

[Hannathy]

In my state that would be illegal. If you live with someone you have to count the income of all people in the household married or not. My neighbor down the street tried to get me to sign a paper for her, I went to sign it and noticed she did not have her boyfriend listed. It was a paper stating the names of the people who lived in her residence. You have to have a neighbor not a friend sign it. I refused, she said she would lose a big chunk of her benifits if she had to report his pay. Made me sick.

Good for you!

Hope they don't reciprocate....
This country would be a lot better off if more people stood up for principles.

 

[dreamin_disney]

I'm surprised she gets benefits unless her baby's daddy doesnt make enough money. Dh and I werent married for 10 years we just lived together. I was considiered low income but i didnt qualify for anything because i lived with the babies father. The main thing I wished i had some help with was daycare. It was very expensive. We missed the income by $3000 per year. I had to pay a lot for medical insurance for me and dd so 1/2 of my take home went to daycare. We used our creditcards to get by. We are hardworking people who pay our bills but when i would drop off dd i didnt qualify for subsidze (state pays partial) as i would drive up in my old beater car others that had their kids in the subsized daycare room always pulled up in brand new cars uugh!

I guess this is why we only have one kid. We cant afford anymore.

 

[Sleepy]

I don't know how it is now, but 20 years ago the state of Virginia did not allow a single woman on welfare to have a live in boyfriend. Did not matter if he was the father of her children. I knew a guy who had to move out in this situation so she could keep benefits.

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

Someone I know has a boss who is very weathy and has a very disfunctional family. Always giving jobs to family who doesn't show up, bailing out her kids, etc... Her granddaughter got pregnant and lives with the boyfriend, rent free thanks to grandma. She told the state she doesn't know who the father is. While pregnant she started getting food stamps, welfare and a free cell phone (that makes her 2nd phone). Oh, and grandma gave her a job so I am sure it is under-the-table. One day she walked into work with a grocery bag and my mom mentioned about something being on sale. She said she doesn't have to worry about sales since she gets it for free! What is more upsetting, someone who works there has a child and got divorced, her ex is sick so he can't give any support right now. She went to get food stamps and she gets less per month!

I say when someone on welfare is in the delivery room and claims they don't know who the daddy is... give a paternity test to every male who visits that baby!! I am sure her boyfriend was there for the birth!

 

[Janet Hill]

I don't know how it is now, but 20 years ago the state of Virginia did not allow a single woman on welfare to have a live in boyfriend. Did not matter if he was the father of her children. I knew a guy who had to move out in this situation so she could keep benefits.

It's the income of the total household that counts towards benefits, not their marital status. He probably had a job and made to much money for the household to qualify.

Instead of moving out, maybe he should have manned up and supported his child.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

If the system is broken, as stated repeatedly here in this thread, then focus on fixing or amending the system and not bashing those who are being supported by the system.

If the current way of doing things in the many states is not something supported by the majority of the people in that state, then elect people who will make the changes the majority want.

Focus on doing something with the outrage instead of just bashing others, which serves only to make those doing the bashing look ignorant and uniformed.

 

[MightyMom]

I see this happen a lot in the community of families with disabled children... as a Physician/Patient Liasion I not only condone it.... I highly encourage it.

I have even seen parents DIVORCE... yes... they've actually divorced... so that the mother can file for SSI benefits for their disabled child.

Now keep in mind I live in Texas and I'm talking about families that have severely disabled children. In MANY situations the mother stays home to be the full time provider.... and dad makes too much to qualify for government assistance. Insurance NEVER pays enough... and you can't shop around for insurance because of the preexisting condition.

So..... the parents feel their only option is to lie, cheat and steal to ensure their child has the medical coverage it needs.

I have a disabled child and went bankrupt in the first 8 years of his life... then our name finally came up in the medicaid waiver program. (Count the child's income to qualify... not the parents) I can't tell you the financial burden this released from us.

So... in some situations... I see why people NEED to do this and as irritating as it can be.... I try not to cast judgement until I know the whole situation.

 

[blanq]

I have not read all the replies, so I apologize if what I am about to write has already been written. With the birth of the baby, and the fact that the father lives with the mother, means that his income will count towards her eligibility for continuing medical assistance, whether or not they are married once paternity is established. If they refuse to adjudicate paternity at the hospital (all states have a voluntary acknowledgement of paternity process), then the public assistance unit will make an autoamtic referral to the child support unit for the child support unit to adjudicate paternity. Again, once paternity is established, the father's income will be deemed to determine future benefits.

So, the title of this thread "Staying Single to Collect Welfare Benefits" does not apply to the OP's posted situation. If you are single and living with your partner and on welfare, the other parents income is counted to determine eligibility. If the parents live in separate households, then the child support office will seek child support, medical support (and sometimes child care support, depending on the state) from the non-custodial parent.

 

[princessmom29]

According to National Conference of State Legislatures:

yes, I know. I live in Alabama. It shows on my info to the left there.

 

[princessmom29]

If the system is broken, as stated repeatedly here in this thread, then focus on fixing or amending the system and not bashing those who are being supported by the system.

If the current way of doing things in the many states is not something supported by the majority of the people in that state, then elect people who will make the changes the majority want.

Focus on doing something with the outrage instead of just bashing others, which serves only to make those doing the bashing look ignorant and uniformed.

It is really, really hard to do that when everyone being supported by the system votes to maintain a broken system so that it will continue to support them, and so many Americans vote with them hoping they can get something out of the deal too. In the real world, what politician is going to stand up and say we need to change the system and support an initative to do so??? No one who wants to stay in whatever political position they hold. Until we are able to change the attitude of those who abuse the system, nothing is going to change. It really is about the people that abuse the system. Human beings are innately selfish, and it is difficult to impossible to convince someone who has made a career of collecting welfare benefits that they should go out and get a job to support themsevles. They won't as long as they keep getting a handout. It is going to take cutting of the money to fix the system, which brings us back to the fact that politician are not going to risk losing their seats by cutting off soemone's benefits.

 

[Colleen27]

Now here's a creative way to budget, just get all your neighbors to pick up the tab One of my coworkers is off today because his livein just had their baby. It is premature and only weighs 3 pounds. I remarked to someone that even with our insurance picking up most of the tab a bill like that could be a real budget buster. The guy said that our coworker didn't have to worry about it because they never got married, she is on welfare and the state is paying for everything

This isn't some poor girl who was abandoned, they have been living together for years and this is their 2nd child together (the state also paid for the first one) All legal, too.

If they are living together, they have to report his income on all those forms. Marital status doesn't matter - household income is what counts. If his income would disqualify them, turn them in for fraud.

Eventually they will require the father put the child on his insurance, even if he chooses not to marry the mother (she'll likely lose her coverage at 2 months post-partum; few states provide medical assistance to non-pregnant adults). It is part of the child support aspect of welfare reform. He'll also have to pay support unless they are reporting themselves as a family household.

 

[Colleen27]

But if she's living with him and he's paying for housing, food etc, then she needs to be honest about that and not be essentially stealing from those of us who ARE honest. I'm not sure how anyone could have a problem with that.

I don't know why the assumption is that she's not being honest about it. The income limits for medical assistance are fairly high, and many, many working families (married or otherwise) qualify for coverage for their kids.

 

[blanq]

You know, all of these things that everyone is complaining about in this thread would go "poof" if we simply had a single payer system for health care in our country. People would not need to steal and cheat to get medical coverage if it were simply available to all.

 

[princessmom29]

You know, all of these things that everyone is complaining about in this thread would go "poof" if we simply had a single payer system for health care in our country. People would not need to steal and cheat to get medical coverage if it were simply available to all.

And our nation would be bankrupt as a result, or we would end up going on a month long waitlist for a bypass. Yes it would be really simpe, but really, really bad.

And it is not just healthcare, it is food stamps, welfare, subsidized housing, and all of the other government programs people like the op describe are taking advantage of by lying about thier income.

 

[Colleen27]

You know, all of these things that everyone is complaining about in this thread would go "poof" if we simply had a single payer system for health care in our country. People would not need to steal and cheat to get medical coverage if it were simply available to all.

I was thinking the same thing. What jumped out at me from the OP wasn't the "cheating" (whether they are or not) - it was the comment about what a budget buster that situation would be even with insurance. A sane system wouldn't give the parents of a sick child the choice between bankruptcy or lying!

 

[bunny]

I was thinking the same thing. What jumped out at me from the OP wasn't the "cheating" (whether they are or not) - it was the comment about what a budget buster that situation would be even with insurance. A sane system wouldn't give the parents of a sick child the choice between bankruptcy or lying!

We need health care reform not socialized medicine. Who should pay for all these hospitalization costs? The rich?

 

[luvsJack]

Every time a thread like this pops up, I want to ask those that are complaining: So, what is your solution?

Yes, the system is broken and needs revamping; but we NEED a system. There are many, many people that do not make enough money to support their family without assistance. Whether this is because of lack of education, lack of jobs, too many children or disability, it doesn't matter; they still need the system to help fill the gap. So, what should we do?

IMHO, there should be mandatory birth control as long as a mother is on welfare. I don't have a problem with that, but birth control fails and accidents happen so that would not completely solve the problem.

I also think that recipients of government assistance, if not disabled, could work for the county to work for some of what the receive. And, of course The only problem with that is the counties would have to provide child care (right now the government will pay for child care for students and for some working mothers, so it would just be a matter of expanding that program). Personally, I think the money on child care would be well spent.


But, everyone should keep in mind when they are judging those with live in boyfriends and still receiving benefits, many times the boyfriend only makes enough to get them just out of benefits which is still a very low income and can be the difference in having enough for their children to eat or to get medical care for them.

As for health care reform, there are children in this country who need health care and it should be their right to receive it. If higher taxes to the rich or anyone else are the way to get this, then so be it.

 

[princessmom29]

We need health care reform not socialized medicine. Who should pay for all these hospitalization costs? The rich?

That is what a lot of people seem to think. It's "not fair" that they have more money, so lets take it away and give it to those who choose not to work for a living seems to be the going theory for a lot of people these days. Don't get me wrong, I have no porblem with public assistance for the eldery, disabled, those who are temporarily out of work and need a helping hand, but collecting welfare is not a career, and the govenment should not facilitate people making it their source of permanent income. It amounts to forcing me to support someone who chooses not to work, and that is what is "not fair". Why sohuld my getting up and going to work every day fund someone who chooses to stay home, not because they cannot work, but because they would rather be supported and do nothing? How is that fair or right?