The economy today is so different it is impossible to apply modern terms to what the Rambam or any contemporary said.
Money as we know it didn’t exist 1000 years ago. They bartered using commodities, goods, and pieces of rare metals (gold, silver and copper in particular- which are really just commodities).
Due to globalization, crop shortages don’t result in starvation. Indeed, even in the poorest countries, obesity is the fastest growing public health problem. If some is starving today, it means their government is causing it to happen by some deliberate policy.
Jews have always had a propensity to stop working once they have enough to eat and spend more time learning. We have always been more concerned with how a job affects ability to do mitsvos than with making money.
Giving someone money so they can spend more time learning is hardly welfare. It’s a tradition. Whereas goyim learn only to find a way to get more money, we learn since the existence of the world depends on it. Among the Jews, only those who shirk their duty concentrate on getting rich, leaving the burden of Torah and Mitsvos to those who tend to be moser nefesh to have the time (and given today’s economy, it doesn’t take all that much meserias nefesh to find the time).