Vox network recently spoke with the Ford School's Pamela Herd on current barriers in the distribution system of social welfare programs. Herd testified, “We have a huge array of different programs with the primary goal of reducing poverty and increasing income and economic security among [people], especially among families with children... But the way we’ve implemented those programs is fundamentally undermining that goal." Using the example of Medicaid, Herd explained how people often miss out on benefits available to them. “Look at how difficult it is to access the Medicaid program … tons of documentation, enrollment processes — people get kicked off all the time because they don’t do one of those 100 steps they’re supposed to do... Seventy percent of people losing coverage are losing coverage for what they deem procedural reasons, which are like paperwork problems, basically."
