If you’re in charge of implementation, you can make the law very, very difficult to follow. In other words, you can drown the policy, and those trying to access it, in bureaucratic hurdles. The tactics vary—from long waiting times and excessive paperwork, to cumbersome filing systems and repeated in-person interviews, to lousy websites—but the goal remains the same: to impose a burden so onerous that people otherwise eligible for the benefit, many of whom are already weighed down by poverty, poor health, limited education, and unstable housing, simply cannot overcome.
