Federal Funding of Social Welfare Programs

Social Security $773 Billion (2012) 53.6 Million recipients (Sept. 2012) (Congressional Budget Office, Social Security Administration)

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) $48 Billion (FY 2009) 5.4 Million recipients (Sept. 2012)

Basic monthly benefit $674 (individual)/$1011 (couple) (2010/2011)

(Social Security Administration, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities)

Head Start $7.9 Billion (2012) Almost 1 Million kids served (The New York Times)

Federal Funding of Social Welfare Programs

Medicare: $549 Billion (FY 2011) 48.7 Million people covered

(medicare.gov)

Medicaid: $258 Billion (FY 2012) Matched by state funds

(Congressional Budget Office)

School Lunch program $10.1 Billion (FY 2010) 33.8 Million recipients

(US Department of Agriculture)

TANF $17.8 Billion (FY 2011) 4.4 Million recipients

(hhs.gov)

SNAP (food assistance) $78 Billion (FY2011) Average of 45 Million recipients per month

(Congressional Budget Office)

Federal Funding of Social Welfare Programs

Housing assistance (Section 8) $20 Billion (FY 2002) 2 million recipients (FY 2005) (Hall and Ryan, Americans for Democratic Action)

WIC $7 Billion (FY 2012) Average monthly participation 9M (FY 2011)

(US Department of Agriculture)

Federal Social Welfare Spending in South Carolina

http://fcnl.org/pdfs/issues/budget/South_Carolina-_Field.pdf

South Carolina State Social Welfare Spending

Medicaid: Approx. $5 Billion (FY 2012) DSS: Approx. $1.9 Billion (FY 2012) Housing Authority: $126 Million (FY 2012) Dept. of Education: $943 Million (FY

2012) Note that this does not include local school

funds.

Questions about Welfare Policy Are programs effective? Do they succeed

in helping people become self-sufficient? Are programs cost-efficient? Current controversy: Should drug testing

be required for welfare recipients (laws in some states)

Consequences to society of fraud

Which is Worse? Ensuring that no genuinely needy person

is left out of the opportunity for services inevitably leads to fraud, which has serious consequences for society – both economic and non-economic.

Ensuring that no one defrauds the system inevitably leaves out genuinely needy people, which also has consequences for society.