The EBT Card: A Step in the Right Direction

The Electronic Benefit Card, more commonly known as the EBT card, is a debit card that is issued to public assistance recipients. Food Stamps and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, or TANF funds are deposited on recipient's cards once or twice per month (dependent upon the state). EBT cards are the replacement for "welfare checks" and food stamps in paper coupon format.

Since the first issuance of EBT cards in the mid nineties, they have been a positive change for public assistance recipients. There is a certain stigma associated with receiving public aid. Historically, ignorant people have tended to classify public assistance recipients as "welfare moms," and they feel as though recipients are lazy people who would rather leech off of responsible citizens than get a job. This image of the "welfare mom" has endured throughout the years, regardless of the ridiculousness of its claim. With EBT cards, public assistance recipients are harder to identify by the public at large, and their dignity remains intact -- besides being an embarrassment to some recipients, whether or not a person receives public aid is really no one else's business. Gone are the days when a person had to stand in line at the grocery store and painstakingly tear out paper food stamp coupons to pay for their food, only to hear the intentionally loud moans and complaints from consumers standing in line behind them. Also, there is no more waiting for monthly welfare checks to arrive in the mail only to find that the mail box had been tampered with, or the check had gotten lost in the mail.

One of the positive effects the EBT card system has made to the public at large is the fact that it has made food stamp fraud harder to accomplish. Before EBT cards, a person could very easily sell their paper food stamps. The trend used to be to sell the paper food stamps for approximately one half of their value to obtain cash in order to make it worthwhile for the person wanting to trade their cash (one can only purchase food products with food stamps). Now that the EBT card has been instituted, food stamp recipients are less apt to hand over their card, and even further hesitant about giving out their pin code. The EBT Card has been a positive measure for recipients because it takes some of the "sting" out of using public aid. The "welfare" system of today is not the same system as yesterday, as of The Welfare Reform Act of 1996, there is no more tolerance for those who simply do not want to work. The reality of public assistance is that most recipients are hard working individuals who have simply fallen on hard times, there is no reason that they should feel ashamed for seeking help to feed their families. Most of all, the EBT card system has been a positive step in helping public assistance recipients retain their dignity