More Hoosiers feeling the pain of poverty, By Bill Ruthhart, October 5, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “Indiana is one of only eight states that last year had a statistically significant increase in its poverty rate — likely yet another troubling effect of devastating layoffs in the auto and RV industries, experts said. The percentage of Hoosiers living in poverty increased to 13.1 percent in 2008, up from 12.3 percent the year before, according to the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey. That survey estimates that more than 807,000 Hoosiers were living in poverty in 2008, up from 757,000 in 2007. The numbers are particularly disturbing for black and Hispanic Hoosiers. In 2007, 25.5 percent of blacks and 22.2 percent of Hispanics lived below the poverty line, compared with 10.4 percent of whites. But this year’s survey shows those numbers have climbed to 28.1 percent of blacks and 23.7 percent of Hispanics. The percentage of whites rose more slowly, to 11 percent. Experts who work with the homeless and help distribute food stamps say Indiana’s increased poverty rates reflect what they’ve seen since last year: More Hoosiers are struggling to make ends meet and feed their families…”

Scattered in suburbs, and in need, By Julie Bosman, October 2, 2009, New York Times: “It is hard enough for the unemployed and others struggling financially to figure out how to obtain social services like food stamps, counseling and utility assistance for the first time. It can be even harder in the suburbs. There, many residents, including middle-class people unversed in the welfare system, have trouble making use of the shelters, government offices and nonprofit agencies that are less visible than in cities, spread out across a larger area and harder to reach using public transportation. So needy people are commonly sharing rides, walking and riding buses, often with small children in tow, in larger numbers than before the recession, officials said. And for advice on how to get help in the first place, they are seeking out priests, school nurses and small-town mayors, turning them into de facto social workers…”

Report: States using stimulus to replace, not boost school aid, By Libby Quaid (AP), October 2, 2009, USA Today: “An internal watchdog at the Education Department says states are using money from the economic stimulus to plug budget holes instead of boosting aid for schools. President Barack Obama did not intend for state lawmakers to simply cut state education spending and replace it with stimulus dollars. But Congress made that tough to enforce, and the Education Department’s inspector general said in a memo Thursday that some states are doing it. That means instead of getting extra help to weather tough times, school districts and colleges could wind up with the same level of state aid or with cuts, even as local tax revenues plummet…”

• States resist Medicaid growth, By Shailagh Murray, October 5, 2009, Washington Post: “The nation’s governors are emerging as a formidable lobbying force as health-care reform moves through Congress and states overburdened by the recession brace for the daunting prospect of providing coverage to millions of low-income residents. The legislation the Senate Finance Committee is expected to approve this week calls for the biggest expansion of Medicaid since its creation in 1965. Under the Senate bill and a similar House proposal, a patchwork state-federal insurance program targeted mainly at children, pregnant women and disabled people would effectively become a Medicare for the poor, a health-care safety net for all people with an annual income below $14,404. Whether Medicaid can absorb a huge influx of beneficiaries is a matter of grave concern to many governors, who have cut low-income health benefits — along with school funding, prison construction, state jobs and just about everything else — to cope with the most severe economic downturn in decades…”
• Proposed Medicaid Expansion: Plan could be costly to Nevada, By Ed Vogel, October 5, 2009, Las Vegas Journal-Review: “The number of Nevadans receiving free medical care would nearly double by 2015 under provisions of the health care bill being developed in the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. A record 222,022 residents now receive medical care through the state-federal Medicaid program. That total would increase by 217,000 under the national health care bill, according to an analysis done by the state Health Care Financing and Policy Division. The move to expand Medicaid comes at a time when the state can least afford it, although Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has proposed an amendment to prevent Nevada from absorbing additional costs under the health care bill. But Charles Duarte, administrator of the division, is not convinced the amendment will be approved. If it fails, then Duarte said Nevada would be responsible for 13 percent to 18 percent of the costs of adding the 217,000 new Medicaid recipients, along with what it already pays for the current recipients. Providing Medicaid to Nevadans already costs the state about $1.5 billion a year, of which $450 million is state funds, Duarte said. Medicaid is the second most costly state government expenditure, trailing only the funding of public education…”

Heating aid could fall short of needs, By Judy Keen, October 4, 2009, USA Today: “Record numbers of low-income people and senior citizens who can’t afford to heat their homes are applying for help, say some local agencies that distribute aid and struggle with the recession’s fallout. ‘The overwhelming need we have (for heating aid) far surpasses any of our resources,’ says Dave Dexheimer of Douglass Community Services in Hannibal, Mo., which is getting 25% more calls than a year ago. It has $60,000 in state heating funds, down from $100,000 last year…”