Ethical Situation: Welfare Recipient Drug Testing?

A person kicked off welfare for drug use won't just disappear into oblivion, they may end up on the streets or in jail.

The problem with saying people need to finish high school or get a GED first is how they will support themselves while going through school. You've got to start somewhere. What about teen parents who drop out of school to work to support their baby since their own families won't support them? How will they make enough to survive, especially if they have to finish school before being eligible for help?

There are millions of children on Medicaid who have no other health insurance, for a variety of reasons. It shouldn't be a requirement that these children's parents be high school graduates before their medical needs are met.

At least there would be a consequence for their actions. Receiving money while living that lifestyle is just rewarding the behavior.

Children receive their own benefits, not their parents. Their medical needs are met the day they are born and admitted to my NICU because their mother didn't obtain (FREE) prenatal care while she was abusing drugs.

Hence the (reinforced) need for birth control agreement required to receiving benefits.

In addition to the Depo Provera idea, I propose that all prisons should be self sufficient and self sustained to a large degree. The inmates should plant their own food, tend to their own livestock and sell any excess products to earn income that pays for their expenses. You don't work, you don't eat.

Not if they were required to go through some kind of rehab and job training if they test positive.

Yes, this can be an issue. It doesn't help the mother have any sense of responsibility when the baby is taken from her at birth and she never sees the consequences of what she has done.

However, many welfare recipients are not on drugs

Your prison idea sounds good to me, to cut costs and increase responsibility for inmates, but I strongly disagree about birth control being required for receiving welfare benefits. Even convicted child abusers cannot be forced to use birth control since it is a violation of their human rights. Being poor is not a crime, nor are most poor people drug users.

So you propose that tax payers are not only financially responsible for the current program... but we should add drug testing, rehab and job training to the tab...?

Thank you. OK, human rights... how about human responsibilities? If you can't care for yourself, you should be held responsible for not bringing another dependent into this world. If a welfare receipient wants another child, why should I be responsible to pay for it? What about my rights as a tax payer? Depo Provera is temporary birth control. They can have babies when they can care for them.

If I start complaining about waste in government spending, it's not usually because they are spending money on people who need help or intervention for problems. If anything, I tend to think more money needs to go toward these types of causes. Drug users will cost us money regardless, but currently it is more in the form of increased homelessness/need for shelters, or prisons.

If you're really going to get into bills that taxpayers pick up, the cost of disability is far more than otherwise able-bodied people utilizing welfare. I have worked in group homes for the developmentally disabled and seen patients whose cost of care is entirely picked up by medicaid throughout their entire lives. These people seem "invisible" to the general public as compared with other welfare recipients, yet they are the most expensive. One example I know of is a 2 year old vent pt currently who had been born at 23 weeks to a mother who had received no prenatal care and after a while decided she didn't want her. As a baby she spent several months in NICU, had several major surgeries, and has spent the rest of her life since in group homes with 24 hr nursing care. The cost of her care has been estimated at a *million* dollars for her first year alone. Guess who picks up the bill - taxpayers. I'm not suggesting she isn't worth it, but I'm trying to put things into perspective. It might be possible to send 100 people to drug counseling to try to prevent problems like this, with the equivalent money used to keep one severely disabled child alive.

I tend to agree that it isn't responsible to have babies you can't afford, but I won't begin to conclude that I am in a position to make major life decisions for other people simply because I have more money than they do. This isn't really about responsibility, but about control.

Targeting those who concieve while impoverished only addresses a small part of the low income problem. What about people who already have children when they divorce, a spouse dies, or they become disabled and have trouble supporting their family? Then to add insult to injury, a random law based on assumptions about their ability to make responsible decisions for themselves would force these people to use birth control regardless of their lifestyle, personal or religious beliefs. Not everyone can physically handle hormonal birth control either. Depo Provera is strongly associated with bone density loss and contraindicated in some groups of people. It is not recommended for teens or anyone with family history of osteoporosis, and it is not recommended for more than two years at a time.

It is condescending at best to force birth control on others, especially when the decision is made not because of any evidence of their maturity or parenting ability, but only on how much income they have at the moment.

kythe, although we disagree, I'm enjoying the conversation.

Actually welfare does NOT look like that. MOST are drug abusing people. Most are lazy and do NOT want to work. I know many many people who could work but refuse to even look for a job. Why should they??? They get food stamps, medical care, and money. So NO, most are not just single moms needing help. MOST are abusing the system. I have a few in my own family doing just that. Years and years on the dole and refusing to even look for a job. I agree there are a FEW who really need it and are looking to help themselves, but that is NOT the norm.

Actually welfare does NOT look like that. MOST are drug abusing people. Most are lazy and do NOT want to work. I know many many people who could work but refuse to even look for a job. Why should they??? They get food stamps, medical care, and money. So NO, most are not just single moms needing help. MOST are abusing the system. I have a few in my own family doing just that. Years and years on the dole and refusing to even look for a job. I agree there are a FEW who really need it and are looking to help themselves, but that is NOT the norm.