• TennCare may curtail coverage to reduce costs, By Chas Sisk, November 19, 2009, The Tenneseean: “People covered by TennCare may face new limits on their coverage and reductions in their benefits next year, under a plan unveiled Wednesday to help slice state spending. TennCare officials said that they could impose a new $10,000 annual cap on hospital coverage for the 1.2 million state residents enrolled in the program…”
• NM considers scaling back Medicaid coverage, By Barry Massey (AP), November 20, 2009, Las Cruces Sun-News: “Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration is proposing to overhaul Medicaid and scale back health care services to some lower-income New Mexicans to cope with a projected budget shortfall of $300 million next year in the state’s largest health care program. Human Services Department officials told lawmakers on Thursday that Medicaid benefits and eligibility likely would be limited to minimum federal requirements, such as covering low-income pregnant woman and some children. A package of health care services would be available to other needy individuals-currently covered by Medicaid because the state has expanded eligibility-but they would need to pay premiums and copays. Those fees would vary based on income. The effort to trim Medicaid comes at a difficult financial time. The state faces a half billion budget shortfall next year…”

• State not paying bills: Social services in doubt, By Andre Salles, November 18, 2009, Geneva Sun: “Every day, Cindy Worsley looks through her mail, hunting for a check from the state of Illinois. And every day, she comes up empty. Worsley is the executive director of Fox Valley Older Adult Services. The not-for-profit company, based in Sandwich, has been providing help and care to seniors in the Fox Valley for 37 years. It operates three adult day care sites — one in Aurora (called Rachel’s Place), one in Sandwich, and one in DeKalb — and provides in-home care, meals and transportation services to more than 200 seniors each day. But now, Worsley is preparing for the worst. The services she provides are dependent on state funding to continue, and those payments are months late. She did receive a check from the state about six weeks ago, she said, which paid the state’s obligations through June. But she’s essentially been operating since July with no state cash at all, and she’s owed about $140,000…”
• Budget cuts will imperil state’s poor, By David Abel, November 17, 2009, Boston Globe: “Maria Bonilla - who has trouble walking because of a congenital heart defect - feeds, houses, and clothes her two young children with $942 of state and federal cash assistance every month, though it barely covers her rent, utilities, and everything else her family needs to survive, from diapers to subway fare. But in a few months the 27-year-old victim of domestic violence expects to be homeless. The Bonilla family is one of thousands of low-income families who will suffer from steep budget cuts. The state estimates that the children of 9,100 families with parents so severely disabled that they qualify for federal Supplemental Security Income benefits will lose their state cash assistance as a result of the $600 million in budget cuts that Governor Deval Patrick announced late last month. The $15.8 million reduction of the Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, on top of $8 million in cuts made earlier this fiscal year, means families who receive the assistance will lose an average of more than $400 a month…”

• State pushed to restore dental aid, By Kim Kozlowski, November 16, 2009, Detroit News: “Advocates for the disabled, poor and elderly say the state needs to restore Medicaid dental benefits before more people suffer or another person dies. ‘We’ve got to start to thinking about these policy decisions and how they affect real lives, not just what they represent in budget numbers,’ said Sharon Parks, president and CEO of the Michigan League for Human Services. Gov. Jennifer Granholm eliminated dental benefits to adults in July to help shore up the $1.3 billion deficit in last year’s budget. They weren’t restored in this year’s budget, so only emergency dental work is now paid for by Michigan’s Medicaid program, even though advocates argue that dental care is essential to good health. Before the cut, the program paid for routine exams and fillings. Research has shown that dental services are essential to good health…”
• Planned Medicaid cuts hit dental, home care, By Kay Lazar, November 14, 2009, Boston Globe: “More than a million low-income Massachusetts residents covered by Medicaid would be required to pay more for visits to certain doctors and receive prior approval for some expensive psychiatric medications under a plan announced yesterday by the Patrick administration to narrow a $307 million shortfall in the state’s MassHealth program. Some of the biggest changes are in dental care for adults, who would no longer receive dentures or other oral care except for cleanings, X-rays, and emergency services…”

• Indiana trims Medicaid payments to hospitals, By Mary Beth Schneider, November 10, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “Hospitals would get 5 percent less money from the state for caring for Medicaid patients under cuts announced today by the state. Gov. Mitch Daniels last week called for emergency budget cuts as the state’s revenue continues to fall short of projections. State tax collections already are a half-billion dollars short of what was collected at this time last year. To make the cuts, Daniels said state employees would not be getting pay raises, and asked agencies to come up with cuts, including the Family and Social Services Administration which administers Medicaid in Indiana…”
• Pain of budget cuts is hitting home, By Mary Beth Schneider, November 11, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “State budget cuts will begin to take a tangible toll on Hoosiers, from the pay in prison guards’ pockets to possibly the level of service people receive at hospitals. Faced with withering revenues, Gov. Mitch Daniels last week ordered state agencies to slash their expenses by 10 percent this fiscal year, on top of 10 percent cuts made last year. On Tuesday, the Family and Social Services Administration announced that it will reach some of its goal by cutting the amount it pays hospitals for caring for Medicaid patients by 5 percent beginning Jan. 1, a move that will save the state $10.6 million in this fiscal year…”
• Ind. budget cuts include $34 million in social services, By Ken Kusmer (AP), November 10, 2009, Louisville Courier-Journal: “Indiana’s human services agency said Tuesday it will slice $34 million from its budget by paying hospitals less to treat Medicaid patients, renegotiating contracts with most of its vendors, moving some offices and leaving about 400 jobs unfilled. However, the Family and Social Services administration will not reduce its Medicaid payments to doctors or cut ‘vital services’ to the young, elderly, disabled and needy Indiana residents who receive social safety-net benefits, agency officials said…”

• Medicaid plan draws fire, By Marsha Shuler, Baton Rouge Advocate: “A state health agency proposal to scale back rates paid to Medicaid providers drew opposition Monday from nursing home and hospital interests. State Department of Health and Hospitals Undersecretary Charles Castille said reducing the rates to the levels they were three years ago would lower spending by $232 million. The program grew $1 billion in one year and now costs more than $6 billion. State Treasurer John Kennedy, the chairman of a Commission on Streamlining Government advisory group, said cutting the budget across the board, such as this one, is not the way to go. Kennedy asked DHH officials to instead consider prioritizing spending for Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor…”
• Analysis: Missouri finally produces Medicaid report, By David A. Lieb (AP), St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “After claiming for more than a year that it could not do so, the Missouri Department of Social Services finally has obeyed a state law and published a list of employers whose workers get government-funded Medicaid health care coverage. Yet compliance with the Medicaid reporting law may be only an experiment. Although the list is supposed to be published quarterly, the department says there’s no telling when it will produce the report again. As lawmakers in Washington, D.C., debate a national health-care overhaul, Missouri’s experience shows how slow and difficult it can be for bureaucracies to implement even incremental changes in the health care system. Missouri was one of several states to mandate employer-Medicaid reports in recent years as a way to gauge the extent to which government was picking up the slack for businesses that either didn’t offer their employees affordable health insurance or paid them so little that they qualified for Medicaid…”

Report: Lawmakers to cut state budgets even deeper, By Glen Johnson (AP), October 15, 2009, Washington Post: “In Massachusetts, freefalling tax revenue will mean no more dental and hospice care for legal immigrants. Maryland is closing a mental health center. And Illinois has $2.9 billion in unpaid bills. As bad as state budget-cutting was during the past year, a report issued Thursday showed it’s bound to be even worse in the coming months. Despite signs of improvement in the national economy, many states’ finances are still dismal…”

Food sales tax could be completely reinstated, By Arthur Raymond, October 9, 2009, Deseret News: “It may be coming back. A state sales tax on food that’s been incrementally decreased for the past two years - and widely viewed as one that unfairly targets low-income families - could be under consideration for a complete reinstatement in the face of ongoing, large-scale revenue losses. Members of the Utah Tax Review Commission heard testimony Thursday from advocates of the disadvantaged, grocery industry representatives, tax watchdogs and a state legislator who sponsored a failed attempt at increasing the food tax last session. This time, however, the idea may find some traction under the cloud of an upcoming state budget shortfall currently being estimated at $700 million…”

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…”

State budget impasse threatens government-funded social services, By Brad Bumsted, October 2, 2009, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “A two-week-old state budget deal among legislative leaders and Gov. Ed Rendell fell apart Thursday as Pennsylvania reaches the 94th day of an impasse that threatens government-funded social services. ‘It is unconscionable that both sides cannot seem to find middle ground in order to pass a new budget,’ Grant Oliphant, president and CEO of The Pittsburgh Foundation, said yesterday. ‘Increasing numbers of families and individuals depend on social- and human-services support for their very survival, and I am deeply worried that it is going to take a tragedy to bring our state leaders to a compromise.’ The Pittsburgh Foundation yesterday granted more money to a fund established to help people hurt by the recession - raising the emergency grants to more than $1 million…”

• Rate of enrollment in Medicaid rose rapidly, report says, By Kevin Sack, September 30, 2009, New York Times: “The recession is driving up enrollment in Medicaid at higher than expected rates, threatening gargantuan state budget gaps even as Congress and the White House seek to expand the government health insurance program for the poor and disabled, according to a survey released Wednesday. The annual survey of state Medicaid directors, conducted for the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, found that the program had been spared the worst effects of massive state budget shortfalls because of federal aid in the stimulus package. But it also revealed grave concerns about what will happen when that relief dries up at the close of 2010…”
• 100,000 Ohio workers getting Medicaid, By Catherine Candisky, September 30, 2009, Columbus Dispatch: “They might work for some of Ohio’s largest employers but more than 100,000 low-wage employees rely on taxpayers for their health coverage. Legislation that soon will be introduced in the General Assembly would require the state to publish annually the names of companies with the most employees receiving Medicaid and other government subsidies…”
• Feds may pay for R.I. Medicaid expansion, By Ted Nesi, September 29, 2009, Providence Business Journal: “The federal government would pick up the full cost of expanding Medicaid coverage in Rhode Island for five years under a special provision of the Senate Finance Committee’s health care reform bill. Increasing the number of Americans eligible for Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for the poor, is a key provision of all the various health bills moving through Congress…”
• Medicaid on chopping block, By Chris Christoff, September 29, 2009, Detroit Free Press: “A major hurdle to enacting a new state budget by the Thursday deadline could be resolved this afternoon with expected approval of major cuts in Medicaid and state help for the mentally ill. That will intensify lobbying for a 3% assessment on all Michigan physicians to offset the Medicaid reductions. ..”

Budget cuts push some classrooms way over capacity, By Mitchell Landsberg, September 20, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “If there had been rafters, somebody would have been hanging from them. As it was, every seat was taken. One young woman plopped on the floor, next to a microwave oven. A young man stood in the corner, shifting from one foot to the other. Three teens scrunched on top of a desk. Everyone’s attention was riveted on the slight, soft-spoken man pacing the small patch of bare linoleum in front of them. It was a scene to warm the heart of any musician or stand-up comic. Alas, John Collier isn’t an entertainer. He is a teacher, and this was his third period U.S. history class at Fairfax High School on the city’s Westside. Forty-five students were shoehorned into a classroom designed for perhaps 30 — and this on a day when three students were absent. The impact of California’s budget cuts has varied from school to school. Because of the patchwork of federal and state funding for education, some campuses have felt the pinch far less than others. But at schools like Fairfax, hard hit by the $6 billion in education reductions enacted by the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, this is shaping up to be one difficult year…”

Pa. budget stalemate is killing social services, By Jeff Gammage, September 17, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “A pile of unopened mail sits on the front counter. Incoming phone calls go directly to the voice-mail system. Beyond the front desk - unattended because the receptionist was laid off - are darkened offices and empty cubicles. The Caring People Alliance has operated in Philadelphia for nearly eight decades, battling an array of social ills and striving to help children in need. But unless something happens to end the state budget impasse, and soon, the agency may not see the new year. The 11-week-old stalemate in Harrisburg has cut off the flow of government dollars to the alliance and dozens of other social-service providers across Pennsylvania. Some survive through the generosity of their bankers. Others could soon go out of business…”

Michigan struggles to insure kids, By Kim Kozlowski, September 15, 2009, Detroit News: “Michigan’s budget crisis is expected to prevent expansion of children’s health insurance coverage because the state can’t afford to match an extra $100 million in federal funds. Michigan has to come up with a 26 percent match, or about $33 million, for its MIChild program to get federal funds from the recently renewed Children’s Health Insurance Program, state health officials say. But the need comes as lawmakers scramble to close a $2.8 billion deficit for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. Democratic and Republican lawmakers agree it is unlikely the state can come up with the $33 million at a time when budget talks are focused on cuts, and millions of federal dollars for other health programs have been bypassed due to cuts made earlier this year…”

Social services suffered, Pa. budget deal or not, By Marc Levy and Ramit Plushnick-Masti (AP), September 12, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “A tentative deal in Pennsylvania’s Capitol that could release billions of state dollars for schools and countless social services has come too late for people like Megan Shreve, Avona Proctor and hundreds of others whose lives have been disrupted by the political stalemate. Even if the deal is approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Ed Rendell, who is threatening a veto, legislative officials say it could take weeks for money to actually arrive in the bank accounts of private service providers. And the budget is already more than two months overdue…”

States shut down to save cash, By Leslie Eaton, Ryan Knutson, and Philip Shishkin, September 4, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “California drivers can’t line up to renew their licenses Friday. Wisconsin natives can’t order copies of their birth certificates. Georgia consumers will have to postpone registering complaints with state watchdogs. And stranded motorists in Maryland may have to wait a little longer for highway-department help. Across the country, cash-strapped state governments are shutting down business for a day at a time to save money. State offices are shuttered Friday in California, Maine, Maryland and Michigan. Rhode Island had planned to join them until a judge on Thursday blocked its closure plan. Some state agencies are closed in Georgia and Wisconsin, and most Colorado state offices will be shuttered on Tuesday. Other states, such as Arizona, have been trying to keep their operations open while furloughing thousands of workers. So far the effect of furloughs appears to have been muted, with most people able to take care of state business in advance of closures or by filing forms online. But at the Detroit Center for Family Advocacy, which helps low-income families avoid sending children to foster care, furloughs have already slowed assistance efforts, said managing attorney Tracy Green…”

Massachusetts cuts back immigrants’ health care, By Abby Goodnough, August 31, 2009, New York Times: “State-subsidized health insurance for 31,000 legal immigrants here will no longer cover dental, hospice or skilled-nursing care under a scaled-back plan that Gov. Deval Patrick announced Monday. Mr. Patrick said his administration had struggled to find a solution ‘that preserves the promise of health care reform’ after the state legislature cut most of the $130 million it had previously allotted immigrants, to help close a budget deficit. Although their health benefits will be sharply curtailed in some cases, Mr. Patrick portrayed the new program as a victory, saying the services that the affected group tends to use the most will still be covered…”

Budget victims, By Rita Price, August 28, 2009, Columbus Dispatch: At age 3, the boy’s development was so delayed that teachers had to use materials designed for 12- to 24-month-olds to assess his abilities. The staff at the South Side Learning and Development Center on Reeb Avenue worked closely with the child for 10 months to get him caught up. Now, teachers can only wonder how he spends his days. The loss of the state Early Learning Initiative program is a gut punch to centers such as South Side, where enrollment recently plummeted from 86 to 36 boys and girls…”

SSI/SSP program, hit often by cuts, in line for more in October, By Jim Miller, August 20, 2009, Riverside Press-Enterprise: “California’s budget crisis has triggered a quick drop in welfare payments to about 1.3 million elderly, blind and disabled residents, fraying a major part of the state’s safety net. State spending on the federal-state Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Program has grown by about a quarter this decade. Now it’s shrinking. Since January, the maximum monthly payment for individual participants in the program has declined from $907 to $850. Last month’s budget-balancing package will cause checks to drop again in October to a maximum of $845 for individuals. The federal poverty level is $10,830 annually for a one-person household, an average of $903 a month…”

• Cutbacks pinch homeless programs, By Wendy Koch, August 24, 2009, USA Today: “The homeless are having more trouble getting help because of state budget cuts, and federal stimulus funding in September will fill only part of the gap, service providers for the homeless say…”
• New faces of homeless in D.C., By Leila Fadel, August 23, 2009, Seattle Times: “At 6 a.m., a block from the manicured lawns of the White House, Poppy Cali starts his days. Cali, 36, a Navy veteran, wakes up just after dawn, before security can find him sleeping on the steps of the General Services Administration building near the grate he uses to warm himself in the winter…”
• Nashville follows Denver’s lead in homelessness fight, By Angela Patterson, August 25, 2009, The Tennessean: “The Metropolitan Homelessness Commission wants to bring a little of what Denver learned to Nashville. The Mile High City created a 10-year plan to end homelessness called Denver’s Road Home. An accompanying partnership between the private and public sectors helped lower the city’s chronic homelessness rate by 36 percent…”
• Strategy goes beyond housing homeless, By Mark Price, August 24, 2009, Charlotte Observer: ” Project Hope - a groundbreaking program that could change the way Charlotte deals with homelessness - is expected to be unveiled tonight as part of a Charlotte City Council vote to back the project with nearly $2 million in federal stimulus money. Crafted to be a long-term solution rather than a quick fix, the program calls for pulling families and individuals from local shelters, putting them in rental apartments, and stabilizing their lives over 18 months with education, job skills, counseling and support from social workers and teams of volunteers…”

• State budget cuts force cuts in child care, By Tiffany Aumann, August 21, 2009, Newark Advocate: “Some local child care centers are reducing staff hours and benefits and looking at possibly cutting part-time care programs as the result of cuts to state child care subsidies that will go into effect Sunday. ‘It has a lot of directors and day cares scrambling to figure out how to make ends meet,’ said Margaret Riggs, director of Southtowne Kids Care in Heath. ‘We’re watching and cutting where we can and just hope we stay full (enrollment)…’”
• Child care centers are in ‘dire straits’, By James McGinnis, August 20, 2009, Buck County Courier Times: “Each year, Pennsylvania state government provides subsidies for an estimated 235,000 children from low-income families. Child care programs for low-income families in Bucks County could be shut down next month due to the inability of state lawmakers to pass a budget. The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare said it has no money to distribute. And subsidies for day care centers have stopped…”

States plug budget holes, for now, By Pamela M. Prah, August 17, 2009, Stateline.org: “This year’s state legislative session will go down as one of the most brutal in recent memory as the national recession forced lawmakers to find money to cover a staggering $215 billion in estimated budget gaps for 2009 and 2010 - the equivalent of more than $700 for every man, woman and child in the country. Even with the federal stimulus package dumping billions of dollars into the states, California, Kentucky, Nevada, New York and Washington are among states that struggled with the largest deficits in modern history. California, by far, faced the biggest challenge - a whopping $26 billion gap - that forced the state to slash $15 billion in basic services, including program funds for K-12 education and health care for the poor, and to divert some $4 billion from local jurisdictions…”

• Pa.’s budget stalemate frays its social safety net, By Marc Levy (AP), August 13, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Pennsylvania’s six-week-old budget stalemate has turned off the spigot that normally keeps billions of taxpayer dollars flowing for social services for the poor, prompting scores of nonprofit agencies to lay off workers, take out loans and cut back to survive. Another month or more without action to free up that money could irrevocably tear a safety net that is already jammed with waiting lists and relies heavily on low-wage employees, according to nonprofit directors and the government officials who deal with them. For now, dollars are drying up for everything from day care for children of the working poor to people who desperately need mental health counseling…”
• Impasse could end day care for many children, By Brad Bumsted and Debra Erdley, August 12, 2009, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “Jody Van Varenberg isn’t sure how she’ll pay the bills this month at Today’s Tot, her small child-care center in Washington. The state subsidizes many of her children but hasn’t paid Van Varenberg since June. The skeleton budget that Gov. Ed Rendell signed last month hasn’t changed her circumstances. ‘I’m one of the people who still aren’t getting paid,’ Van Varenberg said, adding that she wonders how long child-care operators like herself will be able to hang on. There’s no relief in sight yet for day-care centers across Pennsylvania…”
• Phila. ‘a city being held hostage’, By Daniel Rubin, August 13, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Sign of the times spotted in the Criminal Justice Center: We are out of paper. No copying folks. (Unless you supply!!) Here’s another sign. Defense attorney Sanjai Weaver has started taking SEPTA to work. The court has not paid the former prosecutor and judicial candidate since May, though she continues her court-appointed advocacy. ‘It finally dawned on me last Monday,’ she says, ‘You can’t pay for parking, you can’t pay for the gas.’ She is owed more than $15,000. As the economy has turned downward, Weaver has relied more and more on assignments from judges to represent the poor in criminal cases. Such work now represents close to 90 percent of her income. But government work turns out to have been a gamble…”

States cut aid to college students as demand booms, By Ryan J. Foley (AP), August 12, 2009, Chicago Tribune: “Struggling with budget shortfalls that reach into the billions, several states are making deep cuts in college financial aid programs, including those that provide a vital source of cash for students who most need the money. At least a dozen states are reducing award sizes, eliminating grants and tightening eligibility guidelines because of a lack of money. At the same time, the number of students seeking aid is rising sharply as more people seek a college education and need help paying the tuition bill because they or their parents lost jobs and savings during the recession. Many of the affected programs are need-based grants that provide money that complements financial aid offered by schools and the federal government…”

• Proposed cuts to Mich. budget hurts poor, By Karen Bouffard, August 6, 2009, Detroit News: “Services for the poor would be decimated under cuts proposed to close Michigan’s $1.8 billion budget hole, according to more than two dozen groups who asked Lansing lawmakers Wednesday to protect vulnerable people from shouldering the state’s economic woes. The coalition of faith-based and human services organizations — from the Food Bank Council of Michigan to the Association of United Ways and the Michigan Catholic Conference — said disproportionate cuts to the state departments of Human Services and Community Health would obliterate the social safety net at a time when unemployment in the state has spiked to 15.2 percent…”
• Welfare to work program is latest budget victim, By Susan Haigh (AP), August 9, 2009, Hartford Courant: “A 13-year-old initiative that helps needy people move from welfare to work is the latest victim of Connecticut’s budget impasse. Programs ranging from on-the-job training to child care stopped as of July 1 for thousands of people - mostly women - who receive Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, a state cash assistance program that can last 21 months. The July and August executive orders, issued by Gov. M. Jodi Rell to run the state without a permanent two-year budget in place, slashed funding for the Jobs First program, leaving just enough money to cover some staff at the state Department of Labor.

• State cuts to health, welfare programs inflict pain, By Barbara Anderson and E.J. Schultz, August 3, 2009, Fresno Bee: “What will $3.3 billion in cuts to state health and welfare programs mean for the Valley? Children will lose health insurance. Fragile mental health programs will take another hit. Counties will have less money to investigate child abuse and pay foster homes. The list goes on. In the Valley — where poverty rates hover near 20% — the cuts will take a serious toll, said one economist. ‘The ripple effect is enormous,’ said Joseph Penbera, who teaches at California State University, Fresno…”
• Welfare-to-work program takes hit, By Brian Charles, August 3, 2009, The Signal: “California’s program to get people off the welfare rolls and into the work place has been largely gutted by the recently passed state budget, officials said Monday. ‘CalWorks’ - short for California Work Opportunities and Responsibility to Kids program - was launched in California in the mid-1990s in response to federal welfare reform legislation…”

La. Health department cuts Medicaid providers, By Melinda Deslatte (AP), August 3, 2009, Baton Rouge Advocate: “Louisiana will start paying less money Tuesday to many private health care providers for taking care of Medicaid patients, a move the state health department estimates will save $86 million this year.  Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine said he also is weighing whether to require adults in the Medicaid program to pay a ‘very small co-pay’ if they use emergency rooms for non-emergency care…”

Foster-care cuts put strain on parents trying to help, By Dianna M. Náñez, August 4, 2009, Arizona Republic: “Photos of the 20 children who Alicia and Doug Mumford have cared for since they became foster parents four years ago hang on the living room wall of the family’s home. Shown in one photo is 12-year-old Miley, who had trouble trusting anyone, couldn’t make friends and suffered from eating disorders. Within two years, she had good friends at school and had shown promise in her art class. In another photo is a 9-year-old son who was prone to violent outbursts. But now, at 11, he is a straight-A student and star football player for his church league..”

• California deal leaves more kids uninsured, By Ryan Knutson, August 1, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “California’s budget deal is expected to nearly double the state’s number of uninsured children and puts a spotlight on a key provision in the health-care bills in Congress. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this week signed a revised annual budget to close California’s $24 billion shortfall, including a $1.4 billion cut to Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid. In addition, California slashed $178.6 million from Healthy Families, its version of the Children’s Health Insurance Program…”
• Sacramento-area parents fear Healthy Families cuts, By Bobby Caina Calvan, August 3, 2009, Sacramento Bee: ” Monique Kolster and her children are in a tense waiting game. Her daughter Elle is a healthy 2-year-old, but 4-year-old Tadd has a chronic ailment requiring frequent visits to doctors and specialists. Sometime soon Kolster will learn if the children can keep their medical coverage from California’s budget-ravaged Healthy Families program, the safety net for hundreds of thousands of children…”

States slash health care programs in budget crisis, By Susan Haigh (AP), July 29, 2009, The State: “Aurice Barlow knows what happens when someone can’t afford dental care. ‘I see people walking the streets with toothaches, teeth hanging out of their mouths,’ said the former nurse’s aide. At least 30 percent of the people in this city of 124,500 are impoverished. ‘Nobody cares,’ she says. Barlow is worried she’ll now become one of them. Washington is pouring $87 billion in federal stimulus money into the states to help maintain state-run Medicaid health care for the needy - and to handle the expected surge in enrollment. But Connecticut and other cash-strapped states say they still must slash spending on health care to cover massive budget deficits. At least 21 states have already restricted low-income children’s and families’ eligibility for health insurance or their access to services; at least 22 states and the District of Columbia are cutting services for low-income elderly or disabled patients…”

• Cuts in safety net for children go far too deep, Editorial, July 29, 2009, San Jose Mercury News: “Tuesday marked a new low for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in his role as a guardian of the health of California’s children. With a stroke of his blue pencil, the governor axed an additional $50 million from the state’s Healthy Families program, which provides health insurance to California’s neediest children. That’s on top of the devastating $144 million in cuts to Healthy Families in the budget deal Schwarzenegger had negotiated with the Legislature last week…”
• Safety net takes hit in this budget, Editorial, July 29, 2009, Sacramento Bee: “Spending on health and welfare programs for the poor is the state government’s second most expensive item, after the public schools. Last year, California taxpayers spent about $29 billion on these services for their less fortunate neighbors. But in the current economic climate, even these essential programs are going under the knife…”

• Governor signs budget, vetoes $650 million in spending, By Thadeus Greenson, July 29, 2009, Contra Costa Times: “With a stroke of his pen Tuesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made official what is perhaps the largest reduction in state services California has ever seen. But before signing his name to the state’s revised $85 billion budget, Schwarzenegger used his budget knife to deepen some of the cuts lawmakers approved last week, using his veto power to carve out another $656 million in spending reductions. Schwarzenegger’s vetoes — added to the more than $15 billion in cuts lawmakers approved Friday — drew sharp condemnation from some…”
• Schwarzenegger’s vetoes prompt Democratic threats, By Judy Lin (AP), July 29, 2009, San Francisco Chronicle: “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a revised $85 billion budget and targeted welfare programs for deeper cuts, prompting opposition Democrats to threaten to block his political agenda during his final months in office…”
• County: Governor’s vetoes may hurt kids, elderly, poor, By Tony Burchyns, July 29, 2009, Vallejo Times-Herald: “Solano County officials scrambled Tuesday to analyze the latest round of cuts to California’s budget after the governor used his line-item veto power to save an additional $656 million. One top county official forecast longer waits for services, as well as an increase in the number of abused kids falling through the cracks of the so-called safety net designed to protect society’s most disadvantaged people…”

• D.C. weighs welfare cut as budget gap looms, By Henri E. Cauvin, July 26, 2009, Washington Post: “The Fenty administration wants to save several million dollars by cutting back on welfare benefits for people who are not working or using the city’s help to find a job.  The monthly benefit, which for a family of three is $428, would be cut in half for any recipient deemed employable who does not meet the work requirement for six months. If the recipient were to go another six months without complying, the District would be prepared to cut off benefits altogether, the city’s human services director told advocates for the poor last week…”
• State budget cuts leave safety net strained, By Ray Long, July 26, 2009, Chicago Tribune: “Illinois might have a working budget in place, but there is a broader story behind the numbers: Real people are hurting.  If they have not lost care, they worry the thin reed of stability provided by non-profit, community-based organizations will disappear without state support. Cuts at social service agencies are tearing holes into safety nets for the state’s most vulnerable residents…”
• Parenting programs take big hit from budget cuts, By Dean Olsen, July 18, 2009, State Journal Register: “Hoping to become a cosmetologist someday, Theresa Mercado says she has drawn inspiration from fellow single mothers in a support group that met weekly at the Family Service Center of Sangamon County…”

Tracking the recession: Lawmakers dreading end of stimulus dollars, By Stephen C. Fehr, July 27, 2009, Stateline.org: “Whether they welcomed or snubbed the federal economic stimulus package, state lawmakers took advantage of the bailout dollars this year to help patch their state’s shaky finances.  Now, as they start thinking ahead to next year’s budget and the 2010 elections, lawmakers are increasingly apprehensive about what will happen when the stimulus money dries up. They predict even deeper cuts in services, higher taxes and raids on rainy day funds to balance budgets…”

• States’ budget pain eclipses last recession, By Stephen C. Fehr and Daniel C. Vock, July 21, 2009, Stateline.org: “The current recession — now 19 months long and still going — already has forced states to deal with greater budget shortfalls than they faced in the five years it took them to recover from the last national recession after the 2001 terrorist attacks.  New figures from the National Conference of State Legislatures show that states scrambling to balance their budgets already have closed at least $268.6 billion in gaps between projected spending and revenues since the recession started in December 2007…”
• Safety net for poor, disabled in tatters after plan’s cuts, health care advocates say, By Ken Carlson, July 22, 2009, Modesto Bee: “As details of the state budget deal emerged this week, some health care advocates said the agreement cuts too deeply into safety net programs for the poor and disabled. According to one estimate, a $144 million budget cut to Healthy Families, the low-cost health insurance for the working poor, would result in denying coverage to almost 780,000 children in California…”
• California budget cuts deep into healthcare, schools, By Daniel B. Wood, July 21, 2009, Christian Science Monitor: “Deep cuts in government services including healthcare, prisons, and local government assistance are the likely results of the budget deal struck between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers after negotiations all day Monday. The California legislature will vote as early as Thursday on the deal to close the state’s $26.3 billion budget deficit…”

• Budget to reshape the Golden State, By Mitchell Landsberg, July 22, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “Students and the poor will notice the biggest changes from downscaling of the government.  Roads will be rougher, classrooms fuller and textbooks more tattered. The odds of encountering someone fresh out of prison will almost certainly be higher.  If the budget deal crafted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and top legislative leaders is passed by the Legislature and survives the inevitable court challenges, California will undergo perhaps the biggest downscaling of government in its history…”
• Cities vow to fight ‘reckless’ state budget proposal in court, By Denis C. Theriault and Ken McLaughlin, July 21, 2009, San Jose Mercury News: “The deal to balance California’s budget by relying heavily on a plan to transfer $4.4 billion in local tax revenue to Sacramento had cities and counties across the state crying foul Tuesday.  As more details emerged about the tax take-away — twice as large as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had initially sought — leaders from already-struggling South Bay cities were left facing a new round of budget cuts far steeper than most had anticipated…”
• California budget deal to sting schools and poor, By Sally Connell, July 21, 2009, San Luis Obispo Tribune: “Cuesta College students may see the cost for each unit they take increase from $20 to $26.  Public school officials are expecting that $6 billion in cuts statewide will translate into local school districts being unable to hire back employees who received layoff notices.  And the county’s working poor on welfare will see money cut for child care and for buying equipment and clothing they could use at a new job…”

• State plugs budget hole with Medicaid money, By Beth Musgrave, July 21, 2009, Lexington Herald-Leader: “The state was in the black for the fiscal year that ended June 30, but only because it received a loan from the Medicaid program, which had additional money from the federal stimulus program. Now state officials are trying to determine how much money state agencies will have to cut from this year’s budget, which began July 1…”
• CalWORKS: Is it costing too much?, By Steve Wiegand, July 19, 2009, Sacramento Bee: “It’s the kind of statistic that makes radio talk show hosts drool: California is home to about 12 percent of all Americans – and more than 30 percent of all Americans on welfare. Critics of the state’s welfare program, called CalWORKs, say it’s clear proof that the system is flabby and overly beneficent, particularly as compared to other states…”
• Governor, legislative leaders begin building support for their budget pact, By Evan Halper and Shane Goldmacher, July 21, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders will begin working today to line up votes for the budget agreement they reached Monday evening to close a $26.3-billion deficit and allow the state to begin paying all of its bills again…”
• Budget breakthrough solves California’s long fiscal nightmare, By Steven Harmon, July 20, 2009, Contra Costa Times: “A tense, months-long standoff over ever-shrinking resources gave way Monday to a deal to bridge California’s $26.3 billion deficit…”

• BadgerCare Plus expansion means adults without children are eligible, By Stacy Forster, July 14, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Hundreds of Wisconsin residents who have previously been without health insurance will be covered Wednesday with the start of an expanded state health program, while thousands more are poised to be enrolled in coming weeks.  The expansion of the BadgerCare Plus program to adults without dependent children comes at a time when enrollment in state health care programs has exceeded 1 million participants for the first time. That’s about 18% of the state’s population…”
• Massachusetts takes a step back from health care for all, By Abby Goodnough, July 14, 2009, New York Times:  “The new state budget in Massachusetts eliminates health care coverage for some 30,000 legal immigrants to help close a growing deficit, reversing progress toward universal coverage just as Congress looks to the state as a model for overhauling the nation’s health care system.  The affected immigrants, permanent residents who have had green cards for less than five years, are now covered under Commonwealth Care, a subsidized insurance program for low-income residents that is central to the groundbreaking health care law enacted here in 2006…”

• Schwarzenegger’s welfare cuts angers Dems, By Judy Lin, July 8, 2009, San Francisco Chronicle: “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s insistence on cost-cutting measures to weed out what he has described as “waste, fraud and abuse” in California’s social service programs has struck a nerve with Democrats, welfare advocates and the frail…”
• Welfare-to-work program a target for state budget cuts, By Timm Herdt, July 9, 2009, Ventura County Star: “Renewing his insistence that policy changes must be part of any agreement to balance California’s budget and stop the flow of IOUs, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday put the spotlight on the state’s welfare-to-work program, which he called ‘the most generous of all the states’…”
• Critics say Schwarzenegger scapegoating the poor for budget problems, By Steven Harmon, July 9, 2009, Fremont Argus: “On the stump, as he tries to sell his deficit-cutting plan to voters, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has tried to show a softer side toward those who will get hit hardest, often returning to a variation of a line he rolled out in an address to the Legislature in May: ‘I see the pain in their eyes and hear the fear in their voice’…”

• Budget cuts hurt Ohio poor, By Mark Curnutte, July 6, 2009, Cincinnati Enquirer: “As Ohio lawmakers and Gov. Ted Strickland continue to wrangle over the state budget, county social service agencies are clear on one message: Further budget cuts are cutting into muscle, not bone, as the recession entangles more people in need of benefits…”
• Coalition defends CalWorks, which governor targets for cuts, By Duane W. Gang, July 7, 2009, Press-Enterprise: “A statewide coalition of counties pushed back against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday, saying a welfare-to-work program targeted for cuts is vital to boosting the state’s economic recovery.  Schwarzenegger earlier this year called for the elimination of CalWorks and, on Friday, said waste and fraud in the program and other social welfare efforts is contributing to the state’s fiscal woes…”

• Jobless feel effects of states’ stimulus rejection, By Ianthe Jeanne Dugan and Kris Maher, July 8, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “Latunga Childers lost her $8-an-hour job as a McDonald’s manager in April. Soon after, she opened an envelope from Alabama unemployment officials expecting to find a check.  Instead, there was a letter declaring her ineligible for benefits. Behind that letter was a complicated fight over the federal stimulus and the strings that come with it…”
• Report: States aren’t using stimulus funds as intended, By Matt Kelley, July 7, 2009, USA Today: “Under pressure to spend stimulus money quickly, many states are using the federal funds for short-term projects and to fill budget gaps rather than spending on long-term improvements, according to a report by congressional investigators…”
• States using stimulus to stay afloat, audit finds, By Kimberly Hefling (AP), July 7, 2009, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “The Obama administration hoped that $787 billion in stimulus spending would jump-start the economy, build schools and usher in an era of education reform. So far, many states are setting aside such grand plans and simply trying to stay afloat, government auditors say…”

• States straining to repair budgets, By Peter Slevin, July 7, 2009, Washington Post: “Illinois has stopped paying $1,655 a funeral to bury the indigent dead. California is issuing IOUs in place of tax refunds. Ohio’s rainy-day fund has dwindled from nearly $1 billion to exactly 89 cents.  Nearly a week into the new budget year, all three states are stymied, unable to balance their books and unable to decide whether to fill the huge gaps with tax increases, spending cuts or both. Either way, it will hurt…”
• Budget nightmare: 10 most broke states, By Scott Mayerowitz and Nathalie Tadena, July 7, 2009, ABC News: “The economic problems of American families are now pounding many state governments which are in turn slashing services to balance their budgets in one of the most difficult years in decades.  High on the chopping block are benefits to the poor, money for education, highway repairs, hours that state offices are open and even closures of state parks and recreation areas…”

• State budget woes worsen as deadline arrives, By Deborah Tedford, July 1, 2009, National Public Radio: “States across the country got their 2010 fiscal years off to a bumpy start Wednesday, as some faced shutdowns with their budgets in limbo and others braced for deep cuts after passing bare-bones plans to deal with recession-driven revenue shortfalls…”
• Coffers empty, California pays with I.O.U.’s, By Jennifer Steinhauer, July 2, 2009, New York Times: “An ever-widening budget gap joined with intractable political paralysis to deliver California its biggest fiscal blow in decades on Thursday, when the state’s controller began printing i.o.u.’s in lieu of cash to pay taxpayers, vendors and local governments.   It was only the second time the state had adopted the emergency payment method since the Great Depression. The National Conference of State Legislatures had no record of any other state’s ever using them…”

• Down to the Wire: Dems say they have Medicaid deal; Barbour still must sign bills before deadline, By John Mott Coffey, June 30, 2009, Commercial Dispatch: “Legislative leaders expressed confidence the House and Senate today will finalize the state budget just hours before the new fiscal year begins at midnight. This would come after three days of cranking out more than 100 appropriation bills — including one for the Medicaid program that’s been the main sticking for months…”
• Miss. Medicaid bill headed to governor, By Natalie Chandler, June 30, 2009, Clarion Ledger: “A Medicaid funding plan has been approved tonight as state lawmakers continue a special legislative session at the state Capitol.  Lawmakers had to come to a quick agreement. Medicaid was set to expire at midnight unless they agreed to reauthorize the health-care program that serves nearly 600,000 lower-income Mississippians…”

• Financial crisis torments states, By Stephen C. Fehr, July 1, 2009, Stateline.org: “Four states closed billions of dollars in budget shortfalls and approved spending plans in the last 24 hours, but  legislatures and governors in six states were still far apart on their budgets as the fiscal year began Wednesday (July 1)…”
• Tracking the recession: Budget deadline looms, By Stephen C. Fehr, June 29, 2009, Stateline.org: “Nearing the Wednesday (July 1) start of a new fiscal year, several states still are struggling to cover substantial budget gaps that will leave governors and legislators no choice but to cut spending and or raise taxes and fees.  If legislatures don’t approve budgets on time, some states could be forced to shut down all but essential government services…”
• States struggle to meet budget deadlines, By Susan Saulny, June 30, 2009, New York Times: “Indiana lawmakers beat their deadline and passed a state budget early Tuesday evening, but in five other states, budget deals for the 2010 fiscal year remained in limbo, as legislators made last-minute efforts to avert shutdowns…”
• Budget deadline ticks down for states, By Nicholas Riccardi and P.J. Huffstutter, July 1, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “Across the country, state legislators and governors struggled Tuesday night to agree on spending cuts and tax hikes as they ran up against a midnight deadline to approve a budget…”