In the United States the government has various social programs to help those who are not well off. Often times these programs are for those who are elderly, have a disability, or have no real income of their own. Some people are often extremely critical of these programs and feel that our country should not be funding them at all. This nasty habit of knocking down the idea that government should be doing anything to help those who are not well off. That providing safety net programs is a waste of tax payer money. They make the assumption that people who are on these programs are lazy and are abusing the system.
While some of the criticism is justified. Some people do abuse the system and try and take advantage of it. Reality is most of these critics don't fully understand what it means to live on these programs. They don't understand that the rules can be very strict. With many of us living in constant fear that if we don't sneeze in the right way we could easily lose our independence.
Programs that exist, such as SSI, have very strict limits on what people can own and be considered as assets. They also have rules on how much money you can keep in the bank at any given time. Those rules can be troublesome because you cannot save up that much in case of an emergency. Or build up cash reserves for important items down the road. Being employed is also not a good idea because if you make too much money you could easily be cut off. Or worse spend years repaying money the government feels you owe them thanks to an over payment. What it boils down to is that you are forced to live at a level that is borderline poverty with no real way to get a head. Since health insurance is often tied into these benefits. Losing one means you lose everything.
When you are on these programs you can't even consider getting married. Current rules don't give much in the way of consideration. The amount of total money and assets isn't much different if you were single. You constantly run into that same problem where one wrong choice could put everything you know at risk. Combined with having a spouse you also put their benefits at risk.
The other challenge in all of this is that people do make broad assumptions when they see people. What people see as being able may not see the hidden challenges we struggle with. A rush to assume we can function when the reality is we are holding on for dear life.
The reality is people do not understand what it means to rely on these programs. They feel that it is money wasted. However before you decide the need to put someone down for being on them. Take a moment to try and understand things. These programs are hard to get on and easy to lose. It is not as simple as most make it out to be. -
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