If we spent all the money we spend keeping money out of people's hands on just giving people money, that would probably cover at least most of the folks who need but are denied benefits, without increasing the budget at all. It's just cruelty; there's no real budget motivation.

— Christopher Blackstone (@SpinsForbidden) April 30, 2020

This is almost always true. Just like going to Medicare For All would save several trillion a year, at minimum, and provide better health care to nearly everyone. But we are so, so terrified of someone getting something they don’t “deserve” that we’d rather spend trillions preventing that and make all of society far worse in the bargain.