DHHS Moves to Make Welfare Fraud Easier

The SunJournal is reporting

On Oct. 1, the state will stop using voucher management agencies to dole out child care subsidies and will instead give parents debit cards to pay for day care themselves. Full Story

While the move is expected to save $1 million by eliminating the middle man, I'm sure that the increased amount of fraud will more than make those savings disappear. Does the state really think that giving people who are not good at managing money unrestricted debit cards with large amounts of money on them and expecting them to be responsible is a good idea? For many dependent families, child care is the largest sum they receive from the state. The average food stamp allotment is $238 a month for a family with children. The average child care subsidy is $420 a month.

Reading further into the article we get some interesting insight into the philosophy of DHHS:

DHHS officials believe the debit cards will be a good thing. Parents won't have to worry about the stigma of state assistance because they can pay for care directly, just like all the other families. Full Story

Shouldn't people on public assistance feel a certain degree of shame for taking money from the rest of us who work hard to support our own families as well as theirs?? That stigma DHHS wants to eliminate is, for most, a good incentive to get off public assistance. But while getting people off welfare is good for working Mainers, it's bad for DHHS.