"This Is an Old Idea for Limiting the Reach of Government Programs"

"Means-tested programs tend to be politically vulnerable and carelessly crafted, chiefly because they're targeted at the most politically powerless segments of society. Wilbur Cohen, who participated in the birth of Social Security in 1935 and helped create Medicare and Medicaid as a government aide in the 1960s, always maintained that 'programs for the poor are poor programs.'"

Michael Hiltzik in the Los Angeles Times writes that Democrats should favor social insurance over social assistance.