What Do You Know About Welfare?

Common misconceptions about welfare:

  1. Most people on public assistance are employable and could go to work if they really wanted to.

    2. False. 87% of those on AFDC are children under the age of 18. The remaining are parent care-givers, usually single, female head-of-household.

  2. Most families who receive AFDC continue to receive public assistance for six to eight years.

    3. False. The average period of stay on public assistance is 2.3 years.

  3. The average AFDC household has more than three children.

    4. False. The average AFDC household has 2.09 children and one mother.

  4. The reason Medicaid expenditures run so high is because public assistance recipients frequently go to emergency rooms for the slightest medical need or go to doctors for every sniffle, cut, or bruise.

    5. False. About 80% of Ohio's Medicaid dollars go to pay for nursing home care for the elderly and disabled, and for inpatient and outpatient hospital care.

  5. Welfare fraud and abuse is widespread in Cuyahoga County.

    6. False. Fraud and abuse represent a very small portion of the public assistance budget. Fraud in Ohio's AFDC program accounted for 0.03% of AFDC expenditures.

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