Entitlements are cash or in-kind payments to (or on behalf of) individuals that are not contractually linked to payments or services received by the government in return. The federal government distributes most entitlements directly, but some are disbursed through grants to state and local authorities. Entitlements include only benefit payments themselves; they exclude the cost of program administration....
....Means-tested benefits are those for which recipients must demonstrate some degree of financial need. They include AFDC, SSI, Food Stamps, and Medicaid. Non-means-tested entitlements do not consider financial need in determining eligibility; instead, eligibility is based on categorical requirements, such as age, disability, or prior employment.
Non means- tested benefits include Social Security, Medicare, civil service and military veterans health care and student loans) sometimes consider financial need in determining eligibility, but according to rules that do not apply to all benefits granted.
These "middle-class" entitlements are mostly the same programs that enjoy automatic benefit-level increases......
dolf.com
I see my confusion. Because most entitlements are not means- tested, entitlements are often spoken of in contrast to means- tested programs. Thus, I suppose my answer was wrong: some faith based aid could be considered an entitlement, as long as it involved a form of payment. |
