Can anyone show me an example of a lazy person misusing the welfare system?

Question

I have been a social worker for six years, and the people I work with have to be seeking jobs or receiving work training to continue to receive welfare benefits. They also are limited to five years of eligibility over their lifetime. I have had to deny people welfare benefits because they did not follow through in meeting the criteria, but I would love to hear a story of how people abuse the system, as the problem is not the system, but the social workers not enforcing the rules.

suthern....the laws I am speaking of were put in place in the 90's.

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Matt...no way that women bought condos on welfare

Answer 1

Two people in my building. One is on welfare and SS for a "disability." However, she smokes about two packs of cigarettes a day and is out and about all day.

The other lady is on welfare, has a child out of wedlock, and owns 3 condos in my complex. She also doesn't work.

Answer 2

I agree with so many of the answers on here to an extent, and used to agree whole heartedly about the abuse of the welfare system, but it goes both ways also.

My husband and I have been upper middle class for most of our adult lives, we have worked hard and are raising a wonderful daughter.
I was raised that if you work hard enough, good things will come your way.
About five years ago now we both lost our jobs with two days notice.
We lost the company car, the phones, the expense accounts etc.
The $125,000.00 at least a year disappeared.....

Money doesn't buy happiness, but it buys necesseties and comfort.
Our last four weeks paychecks bounced, etc. etc. Our savings became a thing of the past just trying to hold on.
We started looking for jobs immediately....

To shorten this sob story up, we lost our house, lost our cars,
and were blamed for the failure of the business we worked for.
In our business, being given that reputation kills yah! The jobs were not to be found.

We live in the state of Michigan, with the highest unemployment rate there is, and with a governor that gives tax credits to companies that hire the college grads, reason for this supposedly being to cut the debts owed on tuitions. I have yet to finish my degree so that is against me also.

We got familar with the welfare system real quick unfortunately for the sack of food, and the money that you get isn't enough to pay for any kind of bills. We were using the money to put gas in the car to get to interviews.
I saw the way people try and cheat the system, but we were given insurance for our daughter and food assitance, all we asked for. When we switched counties, (10 miles apart), we were told by the new worker that the old case worker should have done this, and should have done that, etc. WE LOST the insurance, and the food...Unless I want to go back down and start all over again...
The laws are the same in this state regardless of the counties, the difference is, the other county we started with was much more liberal, lenient than the one we are living in now. They let people get away with a lot more and looked the other way on things they shouldn't have.

The county we started with is 80% minorities and the county we live in now is 23%. Figure that one out!
P.S.
Anybody that wants to see our resumes, let me know through e-mail and I will send you a copy gladly.

Answer 3

Most of the abuse has moved over to Social Security Disability Income.
I know at least 10 - 12 people who Claim for one reason or another that they can't work, Mostly I see "anxiety" as the Disability. These people are more than capable of working they just exploit the system.
BEFORE you say some people DO have anxiety so bad they can't work, I will agree with you and know some of them too, and they also get SSDI which they need as they could never be in the workplace.
the people I am talking about do all kinds of "work" mostly stealing or dealing, and function better in society that I do, But because they know how to Fake a disability they get paid to hang out and get high.
AGAIN I KNOW not everybody on SSDI is doing this but there are thousands who are.

Answer 4

Let's use the term "social benefits" instead of welfare. This term would include not only straight monetary public assistance, but also disability benefits, medical coverage, housing programs, elderly care programs, etc.

I am an immigrant, and I've seen way too much fraud by a lot of people. Here is what I can share with you from my experience:
- Staright welfare for somebody without kids, health issues or other excuses is actually not worth the trouble. Not only it's not much to begin with, but also, as you indicated, people have to go to training, seek jobs and go through all kinds of hassle... This is usually not done.
- The best one is disability. I've known at least 10 people who paid bribes or found other ways to qualify for benefits. Most of them continued working for cash or owned businesses. For them it was more of a "reduction of living costs" arrangement, rather then fraud. Disability usually is accompanied by medicare, subsidized housing and even payments for personal care.
- There is another phenomenon which is very widespread: medical fraud. There are shady medical offices who offer kickbacks to people with social medical coverage such as medicare. They bill the programs thousands for phony medical procedures. I knew people who got IPods for phony surgeries.
- Elderly/disabled care... Peole just cash it in. Find a relative who will be a "caregiver", make the state send him checks for phony working hours and divide the cash... The "caregivers" also enjoy fully subsidized medical HMO for $1 a month (in California), which includes Dental coverage and has $5 copays and no other deductibles. One of my former girlfriends had this arrangement with her aunt.

Answer 5

My friend works at a detoxification facility. Where she has to confiscate all of their possessions, and she has a few days to talk to and get to know these people. On numerous occasions, she finds EBT cards in their possession. She wanted to see how many of them abuse the system, so in their little chats, she'd ask them if they had a family. Quite a few had no dependents to care for, so she asked how they could afford nice shoes and clothes. They would tell her about the EBT scam. Just buy someone you know, your limits worth of groceries and sell them to that person. Cha ching, free money in their pockets. Of course, not all the people would tell her this, but quite a few have. And it's easy to see that a lot do this by looking at their clothes and shoes. For someone on welfare to have a 300 dollar wardrobe is a bit suspicious.

Answer 6

A friend of mine ran a Section 8 apartment complex. I knew plenty of people living in this complex who were able to work, but would not seek jobs. The sad part is that several of them drove a nicer car than what I could afford working full time. I do not believe that all people in the system are lazy, but to deny that there is a lot of fraud denies the realities which exist.

Answer 7

Come to Milwaukee - you will see a lot of them.

1. My friend and her husband own a TEMP agency and are supposed to employ Welfare recipients. They work for a day or two to fulfill their requirements and then POOF - she doesn't hear from them again.
2. There are news program specials on how Milwaukee and Chicago people cheat the system by enrolling in both states.
3. Katrina - the displaced DID NOT WORK and they did not know how to take care of themselves. They just cried racism when they were told to get out of the hotels after 2 years.
4. My daughter just got a job. She works at a beautiful brand new building complex. She does marketing for a housing company and she has to manage one of the property sites too. It is FULL of welfare moms with 5 - 6 kids and all different last names. Where are the dads you ask...not on the lease but they sneak in to live there. At least the dads of 1 or 2 of the children anyway. This has her disillusioned with her first job. She asks them if they work when she interviews new tenants and they LAUGH...my daughter cries. She has a college degree, works hard, and these lazy trampy moms have a better apartment than she does. How long have some of them been there. The place is 5 years old and a lot of them have been on assistance and breeding the entire time. TELL ME THAT IS OKAY WITH YOU...it's NOT OKAY WITH ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 8

I know lots of young girls that work the system. Yes, they take the job training and quit in a few days and are back on the system.
Please bring your social workers training to our state because the abuse is rampant.

P.S. I know of three young ladies that work at businesses that pay them cash while the government pays for their apartment and childcare. All three drives new cars and never miss their weekly visits to the beautician.
I too would love to know how they pull it off.

Answer 9

Political benefit? and that i recommend the two events. enable me say additionally, some human beings misuse it, definite. yet how good of a living do they get besides? those all and sundry is suffering many subject concerns that can not be taken care of without putting greater funds into it. might you particularly be like a third international united states of america and see them living on the line so others can experience greater effective approximately themselves?

Answer 10

You bring up a different perspective and point. In what way are the social workers not enforcing the rules and why?

I'd like to know.