Corbett makes 80 year olds find out value of their burial plots before they can receive food stamps
Last edited Sun Apr 28, 2013, 09:27 AM - Edit history (1)
http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/pennsylvania/mc-pa-corbett-food-stamp-20130427,0,5938458.story"Corbett's asset test finds little abuse in $2.6 billion food stamp program
....The burial plot question is part of a nearly year-old procedure known as an asset test. Gov. Tom Corbett's administration reinstituted the test — on top of existing income-verification checks...."So they have to get the value of a burial plot. That can be hard and [sometimes] you're asking people in their 80s to do this … I feel bad having to ask it."
When the Department of Public Welfare reinstituted the asset test last May — five years after it was discontinued by former Gov. Ed Rendell during the Great Recession — officials said it was needed to stop "waste, fraud and abuse" by keeping wealthy individuals off the public dole while the number of food stamp recipients was climbing.... But some lawmakers, Rendell, and advocates of the poor and elderly panned the plan as an unnecessary, time-consuming government regulation. The critics said the asset test would clobber struggling families in a bad economy, and force more families to rely on soup kitchens. The household limits range from $5,500 to a maximum of $9,000.
So far the test has not uncovered a lot of fraud. But it has caused a lot of confusion and heartache for assistance liaisons such as Hoffman, and for state welfare caseworkers who work locally and grapple with enormous caseloads. Of the 1.8 million state residents who applied for food stamps this year, about 4,000 — less than 1 percent — were either removed from the system or had their applications rejected because of the asset limit, Bale said. "When you have 1.8 million in the program and it only affects 4,000, I don't know if that's any large number," she said."
Here's previous DU posts on this same issue:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10743446
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1074995
= new reply since forum marked as read
"...about 4,000 — less than 1 percent — were either removed from the system or had their applications rejected because of the asset limit..."
Sounds like the "epidemic" of voter fraud that prompted the GOP to pursue voter-suppression tactics.
Take Iowa, for example:
"Iowa’s GOP Election Official Has Found Only 6 Examples Of Voter Fraud Out Of 1.6 Million Votes Cast"
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/12/20/1363791/iowas-gop-election-official-has-only-found-6-examples-of-voter-fraud-out-of-16-million-votes-cast/
The GOP should be RICOed out of existence.
Stop waste, fraud and abuse by wealthy individuals???? I would like to know how many "wealthy individuals" are applying for food stamps.
Maybe all the elderly applicants who do own plots should just sell their burial plots before applying for food stamps-----and when they die, just have the state bury them.
Sometimes, the GOP turns my stomach. 
