The Welfare System is Broken
In the past decade, the number of people trapped in Maine’s welfare system has skyrocketed:
- From 2003 to 2010, welfare enrollment grew to 402,000 from 226,000 recipients
- Maine has some of the most liberal eligibility requirements in the nation
- In the past 15 years, spending on welfare has nearly doubled, while Maine’s poverty rate has remained constant
- Maine ranks in the top 6 in food stamp, Medicaid and TANF participation, an honor not bestowed to any other state
A Number of Important Reforms since 2010:
- A five-year cap on welfare receipt
- Stricter sanctions for non-compliance to welfare rules
- Medicaid income eligibility tightened to 133 percent from 200 percent of the federal poverty level
- Improved Fraud Prevention
- Streamlined the Department of Health and Human Services
- Disqualification of eligibility for drug felons and non-citizens
Fix the System
Focus aid on the truly needy
- Further tighten income eligibility requirements
Encourage Independence over Dependency
- Help people toward work and self-sufficiency first, with welfare as a last resort
- Create real and enforceable work and job search requirements
Continue to Overhaul Maine’s Welfare Bureaucracy
- Simplify and streamline the system in order to provide a clear path to self-sufficiency
- Set work and self-sufficiency goals for recipients, and report total results to taxpayers each month
Create an economic environment conducive to self-sufficiency and success
- Reduce the burden of high taxes, healthcare and energy costs on low-income families
- Create a business-friendly environment that promotes hard work and self-sufficiency