You honestly think that the solution is to somehow punish the poor for being poor?  That is what you are advocating with the whole "great incentive to do what is necessary to not be poor" bit.  

Hint, having grown up poor, digging out is damn hard and you may be only one small problem away from not ever being able to dig out.  That problem that to most of us may not seem to be a major problem, but if you are truly living paycheck to paycheck, getting a minor injury that needs a couple of days off of work, may be enough to screw things up for quite a while.