Food stamps, as well as other government-funded social assistance programs, are known to help millions of families across America receive the support they need to ensure the well-being of themselves and their children. In the U.S., Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) is a system that allows state welfare departments to issue benefits via a magnetically encoded payment card.
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EBT automates the process of receiving benefits, making the entire affair much less painful. The food stamps offered on EBT provide tremendous help to the families using them. In recent years, stricter regulations have been put in place on those seeking assistance such as work requirements and drug tests to ensure that they are not abused and that only those deserving of them receive them.
During a recent grocery trip, one shopper was stunned when he discovered the grocery receipt of an EBT recipient. The man found the receipt crumpled on the ground and he picked it up to take a look at it and was shocked by the balance available for grocery purchases.
The shopper noticed that, though the $38.85 bill for the groceries was ordinary, the EBT food balance that was listed read $5583.42. That means the recipient received almost $5600 to spend on food, which is of course, entirely paid for by the taxpayers. The shopper had purchased their groceries from a store in Kentucky.
This is not the first case of shocking welfare balances. It has been previously reported that some balances can reach a startling $10,000. Several comments have been made by some bewildered Americans, criticizing the high balances including, “We don’t know the full story behind this incredible huge amount. I don’t know if I should be upset or locate to that state.”
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Speaking to WBNS, Joele Potts from the Ohio Job and Family Services Directors Association states, “When you first told me about it, I was surprised. I’ve been involved with this for years and I had no idea why they would have balances of that size.” Fortunately, most people who rely on this kind of support are hardworking, honest people who are in desperate need of help.
Potts states, “What we found, in general, is these are people being extremely frugal.” There is also an eligibility formula that determines the dollar amount of help each food stamp recipient receives from the government. These factors include the number of children the individual has and whether the individual is married.
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