Dependent variables | Maine's broken welfare system needs fixing
Maine’s welfare system undermines hard work and traps parents and children in poverty. We must fix the system to free families from dependency through hard work and accountability.
Maine has a proud tradition and national reputation for self-reliance and a strong work ethic. Yet our current welfare system robs families of the hope of a better life by trapping them in a system that promotes dependency and discourages hard work.
In our latest report, “Fix the System: Freeing Maine Families from Welfare Dependency,” The Maine Heritage Policy Center looks at the skyrocketing growth of welfare dependence during the Baldacci administration, the policies that have caused that growth in dependence, and the proven solutions to fix the system and move people from welfare to work, while protecting Maine’s truly needy. Our report confirms that policymakers have opted to grow Maine’s welfare system to trap more people in dependence, rather than promote self-sufficiency and hard work, with welfare as a last resort.
Maine is one of the most welfare-dependent states in America. We have a higher percentage of our population on food stamps than all states but one, rank second in the percent of our population receiving TANF cash assistance and second in the percent of the population on Medicaid. No other state is even in the top 12 for all three programs. According to the Census Bureau, Maine’s state budget spends a higher portion on public welfare than 48 other states. Last year, CNBC ranked Maine the second “biggest welfare state” in America.
Welfare dependency is skyrocketing across Maine. From March 2003 to March 2010, the unduplicated number of Mainers receiving food stamps, TANF or Medicaid spiked from 226,000 to 381,000 — more than 70%. The number of private-sector jobs over that period, by comparison, was down just 14,100. In the 1980s and 1990s, dependence on welfare system programs grew only during economic downturns. Over the past decade, however, welfare dependence has grown steadily in good times and in bad.
Maine’s high level of welfare dependency is not a result of a high rate of poverty. According to the Census, Maine ranks below the national average for the percent of overall population below the poverty line, and is below national averages for the percent of children and seniors in poverty. Maine is less poor than the average state, yet has the some of the very highest levels of welfare dependency in America.
Maine’s dependency crisis is a direct result of policies enacted by Maine lawmakers. Maine has some of the most liberal eligibility limits in the country, allowing people to enroll in various welfare programs who would be disqualified from enrolling in other states. We have few, if any, work or job search requirements to enroll in the welfare system and we do not fully utilize options such as diversion programs, which help Mainers find alternatives to enrolling in the state’s welfare programs in the first place.
Maine not only fails to enforce work requirements, it takes no active steps to ensure that work is always the first option for those seeking assistance. Once people are enrolled in the system, Maine does not impose effective time limits; Mainers stay enrolled longer than they would if they lived in other states. And the sanctions Maine imposes for violation of program rules are among the weakest in the nation, with the predictable result that many of those enrolled in the state’s programs fail to abide by program rules.
Action plan
We must fix Maine’s welfare system. We can start with these six steps:
- Tighten eligibility guidelines to ensure that services are available only to Maine’s truly needy. Convicted drug felons and noncitizens should not receive handouts like they can today.
- Embrace diversion strategies designed to be an alternative to full enrollment in the welfare system. Before enrolling in a welfare program, Mainers should complete an application process which involves mandatory job searches.
- Make work a requirement for the receipt of public assistance. Those who fail to meet their work requirements should have real consequences and lose a portion of their benefits.
- Impose strict time limits on as many assistance programs as possible. The state’s welfare programs can no longer trap generations of Mainers into a life of dependency.
- Hold accountable those enrollees who fail to follow the rules, and put an end to welfare fraud.
- Bring accountability and transparency to the agencies running our welfare system, and ensure sound financial management practices are followed across all welfare programs.
Maine’s next governor and Legislature must make welfare system reform a priority. Our report can serve as a road map to better understand Maine’s dependency crisis.
“Fix the System: Freeing Maine Families from Welfare Dependency” is available at www.MainePolicy.org. Tarren Bragdon, chief executive officer of The Maine Heritage Policy Center, can be reached at tbragdon@mainepolicy.org. Read more Public Engagement here.
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