The larger truth is that Andrea Russo’s losing battle with the bureaucracy reflects a system designed from the get-go to discourage applicants. Richard Zeckhauser, a Harvard economist and investment banker, once approvingly dubbed this strategy “the ordeal mechanism.” Complex paperwork, long telephone holds, and short office hours worsen the quality of systems and diminish their accessibility. Fraud is nearly always the pretext. The real point is to discourage take-up, to sabotage the subsidy.
Health insurance and various kinds of customers service are big on the ordeal mechanism. It’s akin to wage theft, now that I think about it.