The 2008 economic crash brought the United States to a difficult living situation when the financial stability of every American was largely affected by recession. It left many Americans bankrupt, unemployed and financially burdened. The Federal and State governments came up with several recovery programs that will help the people during the tough times. One of which is the food stamp, but some states have implemented a different strategy such as the MI Bridge Card issued by the State of Michigan. Instead of using food stamps, the citizens of Michigan State, we're using the MI Bridge Card to buy food and pay for human services. However, the card is sometimes misused by the cardholders by using its credits to buy recreational goods and services. Because of that, the 96th legislature passed amendments to the policies governing the use of the MI Bridge Card. Section 57v was added to the current set of policies on House Bill No. 4051. According to the amendments, using the MI Bridge Cards to withdraw cash, purchase, alcohol, tobacco and lottery tickets are prohibited (Legiscan.com, 2011, Web).
Importance of the Bill to Social Work Profession
The process of obtaining the Bridge Card involves determination of the applicant's eligibility. It is the responsibility of the Department of Human Services to evaluate applicants based on the household income. Normally, the low-income families are the ones that qualify for food assistance. Having the human services department involved in the process explains the reason that social workers should also be aware of the rules of the program. Social workers should know the do's and don'ts of using the Bridge Card in order to effectively implement the program, making sure that only the qualified applicants would get the benefits. In terms of the importance of the bill to the social work profession, it simply equips the social workers in general with the necessary knowledge of the food assistance program's limitations. In some cases, the cardholders would find out that their benefits were cut off and complain about it. Social workers are the ones that will explain the circumstances to the cardholders. In order to effectively provide an accurate clarification to complaints and inquiries, social workers should be aware about the House Bill No. 4051 and its provisions. It is also part of the social worker's responsibility to explain the context of the Bill to the beneficiaries during inquiries and application process. Social workers should explain that the Bridge Card should not be used on non-FNS (Food and Nutrition Services) approved items to avoid their benefits from being cut off (Michigan. Gov, n.d., Web). Lastly, there is other objectives that the house bill is aiming, which is to cut the abuse of the use of the MI Bridge Card and it is paramount to the responsibilities of the social worker to prevent abuse of the social benefits (Parker, 2011, Web).
Social Problems House Bill No. 4051 Attempts to Address
The Social Welfare sector not just in the state of Michigan, but also in the entire United States is facing a problem of the abuse of social welfare benefits. There are two types of welfare in the US, economic and social. The social category refers to welfare services intended for the disadvantaged citizens, while the economic welfare is more about financial assistance. The most widely abused welfare in the country is the economic benefits, which some people are taking for granted (Welfareinfo.org, n.d., Web). There are accounts of abuse and fraud in using social welfare benefits, particularly the MI Bridge Card in the state of Michigan according to witnesses and business owners. In one of the articles published in a news website, local residents make friends with shop owners so that they could use their Bridge Card to buy non-qualified items. In Dearbon Heights, a store cashier tells about a customer that is asking if he could use his Bridge Card to buy Hookah, the cashier thought it's a joke. However, the customer went furious when the cashier denied the transaction and said it was illegal to use the card for such item (Ibrahim, 2012, Web).
Competition between store owners is also heating up as some stores allow illegal purchases and those that abide the rules of using the bridge card are losing business. Another example is a woman in Michigan that applied for a fake divorce in order to obtain the card as well. Leroy Flick in 2011 won $2 million from a Michigan lottery using his Bridge Card to purchase the ticket and still maintained the card benefits after winning (Ibrahim, 2012, Web). These are actual problems that the state legislature have realized and should be addressed by the House Bill No. 4051. The continuous abuse of the social welfare assistance affects the local store owners and the people that truly need assistance in general. Those people taking advantage of the food assistance program are stealing the benefits intended for families that need it the most. Having the House Bill No. 4051, Bridge Card holders will be more considerate in using their benefits. The restrictions in-placed by the house bill will limit the possibilities that cardholders will deviate from the intended purpose of the Bridge Card. This amendment changes the existing law in a way that the appropriations of social welfare benefits would be adequately distributed to the intended recipients of assistance.
The house bill is relatively connected with the NASW (National Association of Social Workers) code of ethics because then it states that the mission of social work is to help people meet their basic human needs. Furthermore, the focus of social work is to empower the oppressed, vulnerable and those in poverty (Hartocollis, 2005). Given the primary mission of social work, it is apparent that any assistance provided by the social services should address the basic human needs of the less able individuals. In this case, Bridge Card should be only used for basic necessities such as food, anything that are considered recreational are not part of the social worker's responsibilities. The house bill in general embodies the contemporary context of distributive justice. Meaning, the endowment of social and economic equality to the people (Department of Economics and Social Affairs, 2006, p. 13-15). It was mentioned earlier that some people are using the Bridge Card for non-essential items, while the low-income families are struggling to have something to put on their table. The benefits of food stamps are being used inappropriately, which constitutes injustice to the people that needs assistance the most. House Bill No. 4051 and its stated restrictions would reinstate distributive justice by keeping the purpose of the Bridge Card only for basic human necessities.
Economic Issues
Although millions of dollars are being allocated to support funding of new legislation, the House Bill No. 4051 on Bridge Card restriction is just an amendment to add in the current provisions of the prevailing House Bill 4051 of 2009. Therefore, no additional cost was incurred by the amendment as it did not propose a new program. Generally, the house bill amendment on Bridge Card restrictions relate to macroeconomic trends in Michigan. Corporate interest are affected by the restrictions because normally store owners earn extra profit from cardholders buying smokes and alcohol before the amendment. Having the restriction would eliminate their earning opportunity from the welfare program. It would also affect sales of the two mentioned products in Michigan because of the new restrictions. However, the amendments will not have any significant impact to poverty rates, unemployment and other macroeconomic factors such as supply and demand. The current US economic environment is also less likely to be affected by the changes. Therefore, it would not constitute any particular good or bad implications for the overall market economy. Because of the new restrictions on the use of Bridge Cards, the majority of citizens of Michigan State are unanimous in their opinion about the changes. The people are confident that the new legislation is a start of a positive welfare reform towards social rehabilitation (TerBerg, 2011, Web).
The document is a credible source of information when it comes to social welfare because it provides significant details about distributive justice, which is detrimental in supporting the information presented in the paper. It is a valid literature published by the United Nations reflecting on several viewpoints about social justice.
References
Hartocollis, L. (2005). The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics. Code of Ethics.
This source is the actual code of conduct published by the NASW. The information provided by this source is crucial in providing justification to the relationship of the house bill being discussed in the paper and social work. Credibility is out of the question in this source because it the same official code of conduct literature being used by the NASW.
Ibrahim, F. (2012, February 19). Bridge Card abuses placing pressure on local businesses to cheat, witnesses say. The Arab American News. Retrieved September 19, 2012, from http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/index.php?mod=article&cat=Community&article=5318
The information provided by this source is an official and credible online news website created by a minority community in the State of Michigan. The news article reflects on the real examples needed by this paper to establish proof of social problems.
Legiscan.com (n.d.). Legislative Detail: MI House Bill 4051 - 96th Legislature | LegiScan. LegiScan. Retrieved September 19, 2012, from http://legiscan.com/gaits/view/224300
Legiscan.com is a useful website that explains the details of the House Bill being discussed in this paper. Detailed information provided by this source is credible in the sense that the website provided a link as to where the explanatory details were taken and validated.
Michigan.gov (n.d.). DHS - Bridge Card Participation. Department of Human Services. Retrieved September 19, 2012, from http://www.michigan.gov/dhs/0,4562,7-124-5455_7034---,00.html
The website is the official government website of the State of Michigan. Therefore the credibility of the information it has provided are true and precise. Although the details are limited to the explanation regarding the use of the MI Bridge Card, it was still able to give ideas regarding procedures of obtaining the card and other regulatory information.
Parker, R. (2011, September 8). From the comments: Readers support banning booze, tobacco and lottery-ticket purchases with Bridge Cards | MLive.com. Michigan Local News. Retrieved September 19, 2012, from http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/09/from_the_comments_lots_of_thou.html
The article was taken from another local news website based in Michigan. The opinions expressed in the article highlighted the discussion of social problems intended to be discussed in the paper. Although it is an opinion article, it has provided different perspectives about the issue and appears to be unbiased, which connotes its credibility.
TerBerg, K. (2011, November 14). Responses to Bridge card limits | Western Herald. Western Herald Online News Service. Retrieved September 19, 2012, from http://www.westernherald.com/news/responses-to-bridge-card%E2%80%99s-limits/
The website is an officially recognized news publication popular not only in Michigan, but throughout the country. Therefore the validity of the details in the article can be assumed to be unquestionable. The article in this source also elaborated the different viewpoints of the people about the topic being discussed.
Welfareinfo.org (n.d.). US Welfare System - Help for US Citizens. Welfare information. Retrieved September 19, 2012, from http://www.welfareinfo.org/uses/
The website is dedicated to social welfare servicing people that are looking for answers regarding social welfare. The detailed information that can be found in articles published on the website is very specific to social welfare, which includes resource links from official government websites.
