From the "working class social democrat" perspective I was raised with, the idea of the welfare state was that if someone couldn't work or couldn't get paying work, society would spare him the indignity of the workhouse, the poorhouse or being homeless and starving by giving him the bare necessities in terms of food, clothing and shelter.

If someone chose not to work, or chose to abuse the welfare system or any other part of the system so that they didn't have to work, the system would still feed, clothe and house them. 

We'd just shun them like the pieces of shit that they were, that's all.

Now, we all knew there were drunks and junkies "leeching" off the system, but the trade-off there was simple, if someone was that drunk or that strung out, why would we want them to work anyway? Would you want to work next to a guy who was high all the time?

As a longshoreman I've worked with several alcoholics and a few junkies, and the ones I know who are functional addicts don't mind working at all. Some of the hardest working people I know are alcoholics or junkies. They just pick a flexible vocation (like being a longshoreman) and spend relatively sober periods working and then take time off to go on a binge.

But the ones who are too far gone to work? Just give them enough to cover their necessities and hope that they spend their welfare money on the booze or junk rather than commit a crime to get it (which costs us more in the long run).  The petty thefts, the petty vandalism as they break into places, the shoplifting, purse snatchings etc that they resort to in order to fund their habits, they are all "wasteful". They might cause 1000 dollars worth of damages or expenses in order to buy themselves 20 dollars worth of junk.

Better to give them 20 dollars worth of welfare and tell them to go kill themselves slowly. 

The best thing to do is to fix every problem, but that's impossible. The pragmatic thing to do is to minimize the negative consequences.

Jodi wrote: I just don't buy that a normal mentally healthy person, would choose to be homeless.

Homeless, no. Jobless, yes.

Kevin, #7 on the list you linked to will hit me, and probably a lot of others first.

For those that don't know, the Health Savings Accounts are set up so that a person can have a certain amount of money taken from their paycheck pre tax per year and it goes into an HSA.  Let's just use $1000 as an example.  So, thru the year a small bit of pay goes into this account evenly every paycheck to reach that 1K goal.  Any time thru the year, the patient can use up to the 1K for health care related costs, including spending it all in January before all contributions are reached.

Still with me so far?  Many people don't use up the full amount in their account during the year.  So, at the end of the year they stock up on asprin, contact lens cleaning solution and other over-the-counter medical items because any amount in the account doesn't roll over to the next year.  If you don't use it, you're going to donate it to the HSA administrating company.

Starting next year, patients will be unable to use their HSA's for any over-the-counter medications without a perscription.  Asprin with a perscription? 

So, I'm heading out today to use my HSA to buy sinus/allergy meds over the counter to combat this horrible pollen war that's going on around here.  Ugh.

QUOTE: I will error on the side of compassion.

I'm totally stealing that line. :)