Feds to states: Don’t privatize food stamps, By Corrie MacLaggan, December 1, 2009, Austin American-Statesman: “Six years after Texas embarked on an ambitious social services outsourcing project that hit major problems, the federal agency in charge of food stamps is warning states against such efforts. ‘These projects encountered severe problems in meeting critical performance standards and many eligible (food stamp) applicants have suffered as a result,’ says a Nov. 20 letter from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the states. ‘We do not support furtherance of such projects, and believe that they put public funds and our clientele at risk.’ The warning comes as the food stamp program is experiencing a recession-related surge across the country – and as Texas is negotiating a new contract with a private company that is already handling some aspects of enrollment. State officials said they don’t expect the contract to be affected. The message from federal officials to the states: We know these are tough times, but privatization isn’t the answer…”
Daily Archives: December 1, 2009
Safety Net for the Long-term Unemployed
New $100 billion safety net for jobless in works, By Andrew Taylor (AP), December 1, 2009, Washington Post: “As unemployment spikes, the cost of compassion is going up too. By as much as $100 billion. That’s the potential price of a push by Democrats in Congress to continue providing extra help to the jobless beyond the core 26-week unemployment insurance package provided under permanent law. The jaw-dropping numbers combine the approximately $85 billion cost of continuing emergency benefits through 2010 for the long-term unemployed – jobless more than six months – plus an estimated $15 billion to continue subsidies to help pay health insurance premiumsEven before the last new round of extended benefits in November, the cost of unemployment compensation was estimated by the White House to exceed $140 billion for fiscal 2010, which began in October. Just two years ago – when the unemployment rate was 4.8 percent in contrast to the current 10.2 percent – the cost of unemployment benefits was only $43 billion…”
State Unemployment Insurance Funds
- N.C. borrowing billions for jobless, By David Ranii, December 1, 2009, News and Observer: “North Carolina’s high unemployment rate has stuck the state with $1.4 billion in debt – money that officials don’t know how they’ll pay back. It gets worse. The debt is still rising. The problem is that with about one-half million people out of work, the state has more unemployment claims than it can pay. So it has been borrowing from the federal government since February, sometimes as much as $20 million a day. The tally will rise to at least $2 billion by the end of the year, said David Clegg, deputy chairman and chief operating officer of the N.C. Employment Security Commission. Next year, depending on the economy, could add another $2 billion to the tab, he said. For purposes of comparison, the state budget for the current fiscal year is $19 billion…”
- State’s unemployment insurance fund runs out of cash, By Matthew Sturdevant, December 1, 2009, Hartford Courant: “The state’s unemployment insurance fund became insolvent on Oct. 13, and Connecticut expects to borrow $900 million from the federal government to keep paying checks to a growing number of out-of-work residents. The unemployment trust fund is funded by a two-part tax on employers that is on track to bring in $630 million to $650 million in revenue this year – far short of the $1.3 billion the state expects to pay out in unemployment benefits, said Carl Guzzardi, tax director for the state Department of Labor…”
Unemployment and COBRA Health Insurance Subsidy
- COBRA subsidies begin expiring for the unemployed, By Kathy M. Kristof, November 30, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “Millions of unemployed Americans face the prospect of a huge increase in health insurance costs, thanks to the looming expiration of a government subsidy. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed in February, launched a temporary government program to subsidize the often crippling cost of buying health insurance through a former employer’s plan after a layoff. However, the so-called COBRA subsidy was designed to last no more than nine months for each person who was unemployed. Hundreds of thousands who got this subsidy when it was first made available in March are slated to roll off the program today…”
- Expiring health insurance subsidy imperils laid-off Americans, By Tony Pugh, November 27, 2009, Kansas City Star: “Just before Don Hall and his family left town for Thanksgiving, the laid-off manufacturing supervisor from Castalia, Ohio, wrote a $763.81 check to his health insurance company for his December payment. He had paid $237 in November, but the big increase wasn’t due to rising health costs or a catastrophic illness – and it wasn’t an isolated incident. Hall, 56, is among an estimated 7 million unemployed Americans who get a federal subsidy to help them buy health insurance under legislation known as the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act…”
- Health insurance subsidy for jobless to phase out, By Philip Walzer, November 28, 2009, Virginian-Pilot: “A federal subsidy that has saved unemployed people hundreds of dollars a month in health-insurance costs will begin phasing out next week. The COBRA program allows many people out of work to continue health coverage for at least 18 months through the plans they had with their employers. They normally have to pay the full cost of the premiums, but a COBRA subsidy in the federal stimulus package signed in February by President Barack Obama slashed their costs by nearly two-thirds…”
- Insurance aid for jobless to expire Tuesday: Thousands in R.I. will begin to lose subsidy, By Cynthia Needham, November 28, 2009, Providence Journal: “Beginning Tuesday, the first of thousands of unemployed Rhode Islanders will exhaust a federal stimulus subsidy that has helped them afford temporary health insurance. A provision within the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act allows a 65-percent discount on COBRA, the law that lets laid-off workers purchase group health benefits though their former employer for up to 18 months…”
H1N1 and Sick Leave
- Can’t miss work, child sick…, By Suzanne Cassidy, November 29, 2009, Lancaster Sunday News: “If you have a fever, stay home from work. If your kids have a fever, they should stay home from school. That’s what the experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been saying for months, in an effort to wrestle H1N1 influenza into submission. It’s a pretty straightforward message. But for some people, heeding it is anything but simple…”
- Paid sick leave for the worker can benefit all, By Petula Dvorak, December 1, 2009, Washington Post: “The coughing starts in the middle of the night. And while you are watching your child’s poor little body in footed pajamas curl up with every hacking spasm, you are doing the calculations in your head, realizing that you are absolutely hosed if you miss work the next day. I’ve been there so many times. Practically every working parent I know has. Whether it’s a dwindling stockpile of sick days, the risk of no pay, a crucial presentation, a testy boss or a volatile job market deep inside a recession, that bedside decision of whether to stay home with a sniffly kid or send him to school has a new sense of urgency this year. In a world where hand sanitizers and masks are handed out at work and the president has declared H1N1 a national emergency, parents who cannot afford to miss a day of work and send their kids to school despite signs of illness are putting other children at risk…”
Weatherization Program – Wisconsin
As funds increase, review finds nearly 1 in 8 weatherization jobs flawed, By Ben Poston, November 29, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “As stimulus money doubles Wisconsin’s weatherization budget for the next two years, a review of state records since 2007 found weatherization work done on hundreds of low-income homes failed to meet federal standards. A $141.5 million infusion of federal stimulus dollars is to be used to weatherize more than 36,000 homes and apartments through 2011 – from installing new furnaces to adding attic insulation. But a Journal Sentinel review of three years of state records showed that inspectors with the Division of Energy Services found 12.3% of the performance measures they spot-checked were below standard. Inspectors flagged projects when done in a way that could threaten the safety of residents or if the project didn’t save enough energy…”
Effectiveness of Charter Schools
Charter schools: Two studies, two conclusions, By Nick Anderson, November 30, 2009, Washington Post: “As President Obama pushes for more charter schools, the education world craves a report card on an experiment nearly two decades old. How are these independent public schools doing? The safest and perhaps most accurate reply — it depends — leaves many unsatisfied. This year, two major studies offer contradictory conclusions on a movement that now counts more than 5,000 charter schools nationwide, including dozens in the District and Maryland and a handful in Virginia…”