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I have family members who moved from state to state around 20 years ago until they found one that would approve their disability statuses so they no longer had to work and would qualify for the whole smorgasbord of government assistance programs including medicaid.
They think most people who are receiving these benefits are just lazy and that there would be more money for people like themselves who need that money if these programs were slashed. They believe only those other (i.e. lazy) people will lose benefits.
There's literally no reasoning with that mentality. They seem to think this is all entertaining.
I guarantee you that once they are personally affected, and I'm pretty sure they will be affected at some point, they'll turn on this administration.
I have many problems with this, but the hardest pill to swallow is that I'm going to have to be the bigger person and accept them with open arms because at the end of the day there's no stopping this unless we're all united.
Public assistance does not pay anything but poverty wages. Certainly not enough to move from state to state shopping for the best food stamps and Medicaid deals. While I don't disagree with your judgement of their character I do take issue with "smorgasborg" of government assistance.
Adult public assistance, SNAP, Temporary Assistance for needy families are all very limited. They are resource tested and income approved as well. Not to mention work requirements for any cash assistance except APA. BTW APA benefits are usually around $400-600 a month. Sounds very lucrative considering it is designed to supplement people making less that $1,200 a month in Social Security Benefits.
Anyone who has had to apply for disability knows it is a crap shoot as well. It is common for people to apply over the course of several years before being approved for an amount no human can live off of without subsidized housing. That is if they can even find subsidized housing.
If my statement could be interpreted in any way congruent to your first paragraph, then there's clearly been a significant degree of miscommunication and/or misunderstanding.
I've reread my statement and there's no mention of shopping around for the best deal, so I'm going to chalk that one up to you misunderstanding what I wrote. As for the use of smorgasbord, I understand that it might suggest abundance in some way, though in my part of the world it generally conveys the concept of variety more so than abundance. Either way I chalk that up to miscommunication on my part.
I appreciate your candor about your family members and your illustration of their hypocrisy.
My reply was just to clarify the reality of getting disability and public assistance. You definitely have misconceptions starting with saying your family members moved from state to state until they got their disability status approved.
Disability is approved through Social Security, there is no need or advantage to moving state to state. It is okay to have misperceptions of disability and public assistance. It is pretty normal actually.
I happen to help people navigate these systems everyday for a living. I was working with this woman today whose total income was less than $600 a month.
It doesn't matter one way or the other, but there's either some manner of miscommunication / misunderstanding going on here or that's not completely accurate / applicable to the relatives I mentioned.
For instance, I found this:
ten states that use their own eligibility guidelines are even stricter than the SSA. Moving to one of these states could result in a denial of Medicaid coverage
A couple of things to note: I did actually look around a bit and found multiple sources that suggest the same, just that the one I linked to said it most concisely and one of the states my relatives lived in is on that list. Obviously I'm not claiming that those sources are more accurate than your professional expertise, and I'm aware that just because it's on the internet doesn't make it true. Also, wanted to reiterate that this happened decades ago, which makes me wonder if things could have been a little different back then.
I appreciate your interest and research in this matter. When it comes to disability this determination is done at the Federal level through social security. This is how people get disability cash payments which is what most people think of when they say they get "disability".
While you are correct that individual states may have different means testing for SNAP, Medicaid, APA, etc. all cash benefits are mostly tied to this disability determination. Generally all states have strict income and resources limitations and in the case of TANF/SNAP also have work requirements. TANF is also limited to 60 months total in your lifetime.
All this money is usually from Federal sources although states will often be required to match funds. This is also why the rules are very similar since they are often dictated by the Federal government.
There really is no misunderstanding as you yourself admit it happened long ago and the details are murky at best. This is what I would call family mythology and helps to inform your world view. I was just pointing out that there is some inconsistency with this view.