Choose one of the following programs: CalFresh, California CalWORKs (TANF) (www.dss.cahwnet.gov/foodstamps/), California Medicaid, California National School Breakfast and Lunch Program, California Summer Food Service, California Unemployment Insurance, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits (www.socialsecurity.gov), disability (www.disability.gov or www.edd.ca.gov/disability/disability_insurance.htm), the Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8), Federal Pell Grants, or any student financial aid program.
After you’ve chosen 1 assistance program, your job is to do the following:
(I) Give a brief overview of the program. What are the requirements? How does one qualify? What sorts of questions are asked on the application? What kind of documentation is required? Any other requirements?
(II) How is eligibility and documentation checked to ensure one is eligible?
(III) Find a flaw in the system and describe a fictitious person who doesn’t qualify but slips through the cracks to receive the benefits.
Perhaps the flaw is a requirement or documentation oversight; perhaps one can suppress information. Be creative. Perhaps one at first qualifies for the benefit, but then one’s situation changes but the system has no effective way to catch this later as the person continues to receive the benefit. What is one way the assistance program you’ve chosen be exploited?
(IV) How could the governmental program in question tighten up the loophole? Explain the fix you are proposing. The improvement doesn’t have to be a 100% fix, but it must lower the number of people who can exploit the system and it must be cost-effective.