Kyle MontanioSep 24, 2024

Means testing harms the mean household and is just plain mean, by design.

Study after study shows that providing social safety nets - benefits the vast majority of people support - is cheaper and more efficient when you get rid of the hurdles to prove you qualify.

Means testing punishes those most in need who are often least able to spend time and energy to complete the intentionally difficult process to access benefits, and results in higher costs.

https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2022/11/11/universal-benefits-cost-less-than-means-tested-benefits/

#UBI #BasicIncome

Universal Benefits Cost Less Than Means-Tested Benefits

The biggest welfare state controversy is driven by accounting games.

People's Policy Project
Show threadDaniel LakelandSep 24, 2024

@FantasticalEconomics

Means tested benefits create a "poverty trap" as well. People who find a way to make more money and do better, wind up having their benefits taken away in such high measures that working can actually cost them significantly. The cost to society of keeping those people from working because work gives them negative benefits is huge. HUGE.

Show threadMisuse Case
@dlakelan @FantasticalEconomics I know a couple people who managed to keep it together on benefits (Section 8, SNAP, Medicaid) and then were walking a tightrope without a net once they got above the poverty line. If something had happened they would have lost what little they had and would’ve been worse off than before because of how long it’d take to get on benefits all over again
Sep 24, 2024 at 9:03pmWeb