Is Welfare "Reform" Causing Earlier Deaths?

[eridani]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/198185/welfare-reform-causing-earlier-deaths

While lawmakers may tout the taxpayer savings under welfare reform, if asked to consider whether forcing a mother of four with chronic asthma to live in a car was worth all the belt-tightening, would they still say reform paid off? It was surely a heavy price for the kids to pay.

The number of children in poverty on TANF has more or less remained steady over the years, and when their parents or caregivers can’t find work, their suffering is deeper and longer lasting. Child Trends reports:

a recent study found mothers’ TANF receipt associated with negative effects on children’s early cognitive development, and identified maternal stress as a possible mediator, raising concerns about the potential burdens imposed by participation in the program.… School-achievement impacts for adolescents, from both enhanced and traditional welfare policies, have mostly been negative

The solutions require a different kind of spending, one that sees supporting disadvantaged people not as a wasteful budget burden, but as a net good and social imperative. Muennig notes that the government could begin by acknowledging the needs of people with disabilities who can’t work with special interventions, determined through “the use of specially trained physicians for disability assessments.” For parents with children, universal preschool along with family planning can stabilize home life and help working parents balance their caregiving responsibilities.


No southern comfort as life expectancy falls

Betting that welfare "reform" is to blame as well. Obesity and high blood pressure are linked with lower incomes. 2/3 of all Americans are overweight, and no other groups went backwards in life expectancy.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13746-no-southern-comfort-as-life-expectancy-falls.html

But the US results suggest something more troubling: at least part of the increase in disparity in the US is caused by an actual decrease in life expectancy.

Women in particular, especially those living in the south, were living shorter lives, with almost one in five seeing a statistically significant decline or stagnation in life expectancy. Smoking, obesity and high blood pressure appear to be the causes.

The researchers refer to the increase in death rates amongst some groups as "the reversal of fortunes".

Ezzati argues that to get a true picture of the nation's health, you have to see what's happening to groups at the bottom. "A single number for a country as large and diverse as the US is just not enough," he says.

[RiverLover]

1. I'm not proud my party is responsible for this. Conservative BS.

[Vinca]

2. It's not rocket science.

You give people a little help and they do better. You cut them off and they don't. A segment of our population seems to focus on an irrational fear that someone might get a benefit they aren't entitled to. I can't believe it isn't possible to weed out the fraud and abuse and still assist people less fortunate than many of us. Bill Clinton should be ashamed of his participation in this.

[freshwest]

3. Yes, and it's intentional. The Goddess Ayn Rand commands this.