Currently Online 
Conina said:
This is one of the problems. In most other first world countries you don't get food stamps, you get your money transfered to your account. So if you go shopping, you pay with money or your normal bank card. Not every clerk in your town (or people standing behind you in line at the cash register) need to know that you are poor and are getting welfare support... it's not their business. Of course your bank teller will probably know it, but the less people who know it, the better. Even if some poor people don't care about that, many would prefer to keep the support a secret and it helps them to keep their dignity. The same goes for medical treatment. Most people in other first world countries have their health insurance cards, the government pays the insurance fees. The doctor or hospital don't know if the patient pays the insurance fees himself or if the state pays it... it's not their business. Only the government and the health insurance company know it. |
It is a political issue to choose to not give cash assistance instead of food stamps. Too many people worry that the persons receiving the assistance will purchase drugs and alcohol instead of the food that they are suppose to use to feed their children. Most people on food stamps are not that concerned about what other people - particularly strangers - care. Cashiers (and I was one) couldn't care any less about who comes in and what they pay with. Besides a minor feeling of embarrasment, I don't see how this is a big problem. Please note that most places people shop at in the U.S are huge stores like Walmart or the local grocery chain, even in the small towns. There are thousands of people who go through these stores daily. It is hard to recognize and determine who uses food stamps and who doesn't. In towns so small that everyone knows one another, practically everyone is on food stamps because their local incomes are very low.
Pennsylvania use to supply its medicaid through a health-insurance card that they called "Access." Everything went through the state. Since a few years ago they transitioned to letting you choose a plan from a local health-insurance company (in Pittsburgh you get four choices, for example) and they pay that company for you to have insurance. This was because most doctors would not accept the access card because Pennsylvania wanted to pay them 80% of what their typical rates were. Most doctors accept these private health-care plans. These plans are indistinguishable from people who pay for it themselves. So it is exactly as you described.
