The other problem is that schools get rewarded for how many kids are on free/reduced lunches via grants and aid so they don't bother to check if you qualify. That's why you see moms with SUV's getting aid. If kids were eating home lunches, the schools don't get the aid and they lose out on that money.

When it comes to daycare, the same is applied. They get government aid for letting low income families have their kids there.

It also depends on how honest the people processing the applications are. With quotas to fill it's easy to just pass them through w/o verifying the information. Some people in Omaha got in trouble for doing that recently.

Food stamps can easily be exchanged for goods which is why they have started going to a debit card of sorts. There is a work around for every government assistance program that people have figured out.

DH said the value of a car doesn't matter anymore as the rules have changed so that could also be why you have parents with SUVs getting reduced/free lunches.

Then there's the opposite end of the spectrum of where doctors/hospitals don't want anything to do with Medicare/Medicaid and fewer and fewer doctors are now. They don't get reimbursed enough to make those on it worth their time. When I was on it for a short time years ago my neurologist said he wouldn't take me anymore and I was on my own for meds. Depakote was 220 a month w/o insurance. I took it every other day to make it last longer. The doctor that was going to deliver my baby didn't want me as well. Thankfully DH got a better job with insurance and it all worked out. Even with insurance, I continued to take my medication every other day which really defeats the purpose of having it in the first place as I wasn't seizure free during that time.

The system is flawed but it's what we have. There is no easy fix to it.