> The more broadly you spread the money, the less benefit each person receives.

But this is true in the other direction, too. Means testing costs money, time, and ensures some needy folks fall off the program.

For example, Florida did drug testing as a condition for welfare benefits... and it cost more than they saved. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/us/no-savings-found-in-fl...

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hedora 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

It’s a red state, so the goal was probably to waste as much welfare money as possible, while also reducing benefits.

They’re doing this on the federal level now. Most popular government programs have been cut or sabotaged, and as a result the debt is increasing by $4T.

	▲	pbhjpbhj 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Well, it's not wasting money when you redirect it to a drug-testing company your friends own.

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alach11 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Florida did drug testing as a condition for welfare benefits... and it cost more than they saved

It's more complicated than that. Of the 6352 people who applied for TANF, 2306 dropped out during the process. Then of the 4046 TANF applicants remaining, only 2.6% tested positive for drugs. The vast majority of media coverage focused on the 2.6% being less than the ~8% drug-use rate in the general population.

What we don't know is of the people who dropped out, was this due to unintended reasons (privacy concerns, the inconvenience of the drug test, missing deadlines) or due to the intended reason (people self-selecting out because they knew they would test positive and become ineligible for 12 months). We'll never know the real breakdown, but it's misleading to say "it cost more than they saved".

	▲	mothballed 2 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		The state tries to take kids away from people who use drugs, so I would expect custodial parents to be below the average drug use of the general population.
	▲	ceejayoz 2 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Nah, the article addresses that theory too. > An internal document about Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, caseloads stated that the drug testing policy, at least from July through September, did not lead to fewer cases. “We saw no dampening effect on the caseload,” the document said.

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harikb 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Please read the article. Since 2019, they had a program that was means tested. The new proposal is to expand it to all parents

> With Monday’s announcement universal child care will be extended to every family in the state, regardless of income.

	▲	ceejayoz 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		You're entirely missing the point of my example.