the benefits of welfare

Since Congress has passed many welfare reform measures, they differ from state to state. The aim of this article is to define and compare the different welfare services provided by the states of Alaska and Arizona. In that regard, the state of Alaska has implemented policies to ensure that its netizens live safe and happy lives, because it is the duty of every government to try to ensure that its people's needs and interests are well met. The state has hence come up with many elaborative benefit plans including Medicare, kid care, food stamp program, head start program, special milk program, unemployment assistance, weatherization assistance as well as heating assistance programs. These intervention plans are designed to target specific classes of people within the state. Arizona also provides equal and similar benefits but has enriched them in some way to ensure that the needs of its population are served appropriately (Amundson, Zajicek & Hunt, 2014).
Welfare Benefits in Arkansas State
The state of Arkansas has come up with a program dubbed Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) which takes care of the needs of families with higher incomes that do not qualify for the Medicaid. The incomes have to be insufficient to afford medication in private hospitals and medical facilities. The program covers routine check-ups, doctor visits, emergency services, prescriptions, inpatient and outpatient care, and immunizations. It serves the medical needs of children who lack insurance up to the age of nineteen years. For the child to qualify for this program, he or she has to come from a family that has an income too high to qualify for Medicaid, a national US citizen, permanent resident, or legal alien (Wu, Cancian & Wallace, 2014).
The program helps families or individuals with low incomes and with children aged below eighteen years. It operates as a grant to the less fortunate in the American society and for one to qualify, he or she has to be a permanent resident, legal alien, American citizen or national. Those underemployed, unemployed or likely to become jobless get considered to receive benefits from this scheme (Heen, 2015).
The state of Arkansas also has a program by the name Weatherization Assistance Program which is meant to assist the low income earning families in paying off for their utility costs and expenses. Additionally, the program targets people with disability, households with children as well as the elderly. Individuals who receive the Supplemental Security Income are eligible to receive the Weatherization Assistance Program. Since most of the people in Arkansas are poor and unable to meet their utility expenses and therefore the government has to come to their assistance. Additionally, the state carries out a National Energy Audit so as to determine the cost or amount of money that households spend on energy (Wu, Cancian & Wallace, 2014).
Apart from the WAP initiative, the Arkansas government supplements the federal unemployment insurance program. The plan offers unemployment benefits to qualifying employees who remain unemployed not out of their fault. Beneficiaries have to meet certain eligibility issues including the applicant has to be unemployed by not a fault of his or her own. One has to have been working in Arkansas for the past twelve to eighteen months before he makes an application. Whoever qualifies for the benefits must be available to work each week and collect his or her benefits. The scheme's primary objective is to provide temporary cushioning to the unemployed workforce as long as they conform to the Arkansas laid down guidelines (Cousins, 2015).
Welfare Benefits in Arizona
The most profound social benefits scheme in Arizona is the Cash Assistance Program which extends temporary assistance to the needy families in the state. The local government receives grants and donations of which are used to give the low-income earners some relief until they become self-reliant at some point. The program is one of the subsidiary plans put forward by Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). TANF's purpose is to ensure that the needy families are given support to enable the children to receive care while in their homes, promote job preparation, marriage and work to reduce the dependency of low-income earning parents. The program is also geared towards reducing cases of unwanted pregnancies out of wedlock. One has to be a US citizen, legal alien or national as well as a permanent resident with little income to benefit from the plan (Amundson, Zajicek & Hunt, 2014).
Arizona just like Arkansas offers Child Health Insurance Program for families with too high incomes that cannot qualify for Medicaid and even afford medication in private medical facilities. However, the plan includes pregnant women, as well as parents as it closely works with the Medicaid, intend to ensure that the quality of life for Arizona citizens improves. It as well covers emergency cases, routine checkups, immunizations, and prescriptions as well as dental and vision care for children who have not exceeded the age limit of 19 years (Cousins, 2015).
The state of Arizona also partners with the federal government to help children from low-income families to develop emotionally and socially and also enhance their cognitive abilities. The Arkansas state does this is a program called Head Start in which the children are offered a conducive and appropriate environment to learn. Various areas of child development such as literacy and language are given priority as the program emphasizes on the function of the guardian or parent as the first teacher to the child. Within the scheme, infants between zero and five years of age, families with low incomes and pregnant women get covered as long they stay below the federal poverty level.
Many American citizens who fall below a certain level of income have benefited from the Medicaid scheme by the federal government. The Arizona state administration has hence adopted a similar model to cover parents, pregnant women, children, elderly and the disabled who happen to fall below a prescribed income level. Even though the state provides the program, the federal laws and regulations still apply. For instance, for one to benefit he or her has to be identified to fall within the defined limit of income. The condition still holds that only US citizens, permanent residents, legal aliens who reside within Arizona can benefit from Arizona Medicaid (Heen, 2015).
The state of Arizona gives milk to pupils and children in childcare institutions and schools who do not benefit from other meal interventions. Additionally, schools enrolled for the National School Lunch also participate in the making of the special milk program a success. Again, only Arizona residents are eligible to benefit from the program. Beneficiaries of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) automatically get enrolled to gain from Special Milk Program. Similar welfares including the School Breakfast Program offer some economic subsistence to entities and organizations that do not have the aim of making a profit so that they can provide breakfast to schools and institutions indulging in childcare. Several other schemes such as the Women, Infants and Children Program, Arizona Summer Food Service perform the same function of ensuring that the needs of low-income families get relief from the burdensome treacheries of life (Heen, 2015).
Conclusion
In conclusion, social welfare benefits in both states of Arizona and Arkansas have the primary objective of ensuring that their low-income citizens live a comfortable life. Moreover, the benefits are temporary, not permanent because they are meant to help people develop sustainable sources of generating income. In Arkansas, the benefits are offered for two years in a lifetime of the beneficiary. In fact, families in Arkansas receiving TEA benefits have to be ready to work for at least 35 hours a week on a volunteer basis. The requirement exceeds that provided by fifteen hours.
The process of application to get benefits furnished by the two states is tedious and involves a lot of paperwork. For instance, applying for TEA, the equivalent of TANF, one has to provide proof of unemployment, not receiving disability and other support welfares. The much the health programs offer are inadequate to cater to the needs of the families supported calling for alternative ways to be sought to tackle the problem of poverty in both the Arizona and Arkansas States. Additionally, training the citizens to can become the most efficient way to help them become self-reliant. However, training alone without offering job security for the opportunities accessed will not help the people much as they soon lose them and back into misery.
References
Amundson, K., Zajicek, A. M., & Hunt, V. H. (2014). Pathologies of the poor: What do the war on drugs and welfare reform have in common? J. Soc. & Soc. Welfare, 41, 5.
Cousins, M. (2015). Equal Protection: Immigrants' Access to Healthcare and Welfare Benefits. Hastings Race & Poverty LJ, 12, 21.
Heen, M. L. (2015). Welfare Reform, Child Care Costs, and Taxes: Delivering Increased Work- Related Child Care Benefits to Low-Income Families. Yale Law & Policy Review, 13(2), 3.
Wu, C. F., Cancian, M., & Wallace, G. (2014). The effect of welfare sanctions on TANF exits and employment. Children and Youth Services Review, 36, 1-14.