• Food stamp participation hits 11% in R.I., By Ted Nesi, November 13, 2009, Providence Business News: “More than 11 percent of Rhode Island residents were receiving food stamps in August, according to new government figures. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said 116,252 Rhode Island residents were participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in August. (Congress renamed the food stamp program last year.) That was up from 88,423 a year earlier. Rhode Island tied with Florida and Pennsylvania for the fifth-highest monthly increases in food stamp enrollment, with participation rising 3.1 percent in all three states between July and August. Connecticut was highest with a 4.7 percent increase…”
• Texas eases rule requiring six-month reviews of food-stamp eligibility, By Robert T. Garrett, November 11, 2009, Dallas Morning News: “Texas is easing a requirement that most families on food stamps must be interviewed every six months, a step that will relieve pressure on the system for determining who receives state aid, officials said Tuesday. The state Health and Human Services Commission also has reassigned about 140 veteran eligibility workers in Dallas and Houston to join front-line workers in taking applications and renewals. That should reduce applicants’ wait times, officials say…”

Wisconsin failing to approve Medicaid and food stamps applications in timely manner, By Jason Stein, November 2, 2009, Wisconsin State Journal: “Socked by tens of thousands of childless adults applying for a new state health plan, Wisconsin is failing to meet requirements in federal law for timely approvals of applications for both the Medicaid health coverage and food stamps. Since June 15, more than two-thirds of childless applicants with virtually no income - the highest priority cases - haven’t received food stamps within the federally required seven days, state figures show. Nearly two-thirds of all the childless adults seeking food stamps haven’t received them within the required 30 days. The same process is used to check whether applicants are eligible for both Medicaid and the federal FoodShare, or food stamps, program. Officials from the state Department of Health Services met Monday with federal officials to brief them on the delays and said they would seek to resolve the most pressing backlogged food stamp cases by the end of this week…”

Eligibility for LIHEAP slashed; 20,000 families may be left out, By Rick Wills, November 2, 2009, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “With Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate at its highest in more than 20 years, fewer low-income residents will be able to receive help paying their heating bills this winter. That is largely because income eligibility for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, was reduced to $33,075 for a family of four - more than $11,000 less than last year’s maximum. At least 20,000 families who received assistance last year could be left in the cold this year because of the lower income limits, said Michael Love, president and CEO of the Energy Association of Pennsylvania, a trade association that represents the state’s utility companies…”

More of state’s poor may soon get public defender, By Bruce Vielmetti, October 11, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Seven years after a Journal Sentinel investigation revealed how outdated eligibility criteria prevent hundreds of poor residents charged with crimes from getting a public lawyer, those same 1987 standards remain in effect. The criteria essentially say that anyone earning $7.25 an hour, with a $2,000 car and $300 cash isn’t poor enough for a public defender. The paper’s 2002 series “Unequal Justice” examined hundreds of cases in which defendants were denied a public defender and found dozens who were forced to defend themselves, including the nearly illiterate, a mentally impaired senior and a first-time defendant who thought the prosecutor was his lawyer. Everyone in the criminal justice system agreed in 2002 that the practice violates the U.S. Constitution and often leads to injustice. But year after year, legislative attempts to change the standards have failed…”

• Medicaid expansion stalls health talks, By Jennifer Haberkorn and Ralph Z. Hallow, September 15, 2009, Washington Times: “A proposed expansion of Medicaid, the health care program for lower-income Americans, has emerged as one of the last sticking points in the Senate Finance Committee’s health care reform bill, with governors and state legislatures around the country worried they’re going to get left with the tab. Proposals in the House and Senate would expand Medicaid eligibility to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, potentially putting millions of new people on the public health program for the poor younger than 65…”
• Congressional health plans could break state budget, By Lesley Stedman Weidenbener, September 12, 2009, Louisville Courier-Journal: “Gov. Mitch Daniels last week weighed into the national health care debate with a letter to Indiana’s congressional delegation that opposed the insurance reform plans currently under consideration. ‘There is no disputing the fact that aspects of American health care, such (as) access and affordability, truly do need to be restructured and improved,’ Daniels wrote. ‘Yet, I have serious concerns about Congress’ proposed solutions to these problems. In fact, I fear the current rush to overhaul the system will ultimately do more damage than good and create far more problems than it solves.’ But as described in his letter, Daniels’ opposition has as much to do with protecting the state’s finances as it does with political philosophy. In fact, Daniels is part of a group of governors and other state government leaders across the country who are trying to draw attention to a part of the health care debate that has been largely ignored – an expansion of Medicaid…”
• Congress should extend help with Medicaid, Editorial, September 15, 2009, Des Moines Register: “Billions in federal economic-stimulus dollars rescued state governments this year. The influx of money - about $2 billion in Iowa - helped this state avoid laying off workers and cutting vital programs. But another fiscal year is coming. Iowa was not among the states that raised taxes to generate revenue, and the federal stimulus money is almost gone. This state is facing a shortfall of between $900 million and $1 billion for the next budget year, and has about $133 million left in stimulus money. Everyone knew the federal help was temporary, and there is likely little political will in Washington for passing another stimulus package…”

• Rule limits reach of Iowa health program, By Nigel Duara (AP), September 14, 2009, Des Moines Register: “A state program offering health care to low-income adults without children is serving thousands of people who have never had health insurance, but more than half of those enrolling are from six Iowa counties. That’s because people seeking care through IowaCare can only go to the University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City. The exception are people who live in Polk County, who can request a waiver to seek treatment at a Des Moines hospital. The situation has frustrated some hospital administrators and legislators, who call it unequal treatment that hurts patients and hospitals…”
• ALL Kids insurance program eligibility expands Oct. 1, By Phillip Rawls (AP), September 14, 2009, Montgomery Advertiser: “Many middle-class Alabama children will qualify for publicly funded health insurance starting Oct. 1 because the Legislature is expanding eligibility to cover families of four making up to $66,150 annually. ‘For so many middle-income families, it never entered their minds they would be eligible for a public program,’ Cathy Caldwell, who directs the ALL Kids health insurance program for the state Department of Public Health…”

Even with coverage of two major plans, some Oregonians struggle to get health care, By Andy Dworkin, August 19, 2009, The Oregonian: “Little noticed in the debate on public medical insurance and health reform is a group of 55,000 Oregonians covered by two major public health plans. The so-called ‘dual eligibles’ qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid because they have low incomes and are disabled or over 64. About 9 million Americans have both Medicare and Medicaid, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, and they tend to be poorer, sicker, less educated and more often women or minorities than other citizens. As some Democrats push Congress to create a national public health insurance option, the dual eligibles show both benefits and pitfalls expanded public coverage could bring. On one hand, dual eligibility gives fairly complete insurance to poor, sick people who can’t afford private insurance, and would likely be rejected by most private plans for their existing health problems. But caring for dual eligibles costs upward of $200 billion a year. And some people covered by both plans still have trouble finding doctors or buying prescriptions — proof that expanding insurance coverage isn’t enough to lower costs or improve health care, two other, competing goals of health reform…”

Subsidized school meals might skyrocket this year, By Tony Pugh, August 16, 2009, Modesto Bee: “The number of U.S. students who receive free and reduced-cost meals at school could soar to a 41-year high this school year, as record job losses and high unemployment push thousands more children into poverty, many for the first time. According to projections by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, at least 18.5 million low-income students are expected to participate in the National School Lunch Program each day during the 2009-10 school year. More than 8.5 million are expected to take advantage of the federal School Breakfast Program. Both projections are about the same as the record participation levels that each program set last year. If rising family homelessness and steady growth in the food stamp program are any indication, however, enrollment in both student-meal programs could swell well beyond expectations this fall…”

Alabama Medicaid could add 237,000 to rolls, but money an issue, By Sean Reilly, August 13, 2009, Mobile Press-Register: “At least 237,000 Alabamians could gain health coverage through the state Medicaid program under legislation now moving through Congress, according to an official agency estimate, and the expanded rolls could end up costing state taxpayers tens of millions of dollars a year. The estimate, provided at the Press-Register’s request, is based on raising the state’s stringent income eligibility cutoffs to match the federal poverty level, now $18,310 a year for a family of three…”

More pupils can claim free meals, August 11, 2009, BBC News: “The number of children eligible for free school meals in England has risen by 21,410 - the first annual increase in three years, official figures show. The 2009 school census reveals a rise from 15.5% to 15.9% in primary schools and from 13.1% to 13.4% in secondary. The increase has been blamed on job losses in the recession. This annual profile of the school population also shows that almost one in four primary pupils is now from an ethnic minority. The census, based on school rolls in January, also shows a further increase in the number of pupils with English as a second language…”

• State welfare contract ballooning, By Ken Kusmer (AP), August 4, 2009, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “Indiana will spend nearly $180 million more than it initially planned to privatize and automate many of its welfare functions just two years into a closely watched 10-year deal that is one of the most lucrative contracts in state history. The cost of the $1.16 billion contract Gov. Mitch Daniels signed in late 2006 has risen 15 percent, to $1.34 billion, under changes made to the agreement with a group led by Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM Corp…”
• Welfare woes, Editorial, August 4, 2009, Evansville Courier and Press: “Call us naive, but we thought the cost of adjustments to Indiana’s privatized welfare application system would be on the backs of the contractors - not the taxpayers - given that the businesses had agreed in late 2006 to give the state a modern, automated operation for $1.16 billion. But now we learn that the privatized system is costing Indiana an additional $180 million, some of it to fix the basic program, which has come under harsh criticism from advocates for welfare clients…”

Pa. broadens eligibility for food stamps, By Alfred Lubrano, July 31, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Javina Brown, who makes $9.75 an hour working for Boston Market, applied for food stamps in June but was denied. Her salary was $4 a month too high. As of this week, however, Brown and others like her will be eligible for food stamps. For the first time in nearly 30 years, Pennsylvania has raised the income limit for the program…”

• 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…”

State increases Medicaid funds, By Lisa Call, July 10, 2009, Dickinson Press: “Significant monetary changes have reached one facet of the North Dakota Medicaid program and such changes could potentially help the 709 households already on Medicaid in Stark County and those who wish to apply, said Marcy Decker, Stark County Social Services income maintenance unit supervisor.  Across the state, monthly household income levels for those deemed ‘medically needy’ increased from $500 per month to $750 beginning July 1…”

• Welfare up 11 percent in county, reversing a trend, By Chris L. Jenkins, July 2, 2009, Washington Post: “After years of declining caseloads, the sputtering economy is causing a surge in welfare rolls in Fairfax County…”
• More seek relief in bad times, By Gerry Weiss, June 28, 2009, Erie Times-News: “The nation’s deep recession continues to take a burdening toll on people in Erie County, forcing a sharp rise in the number of welfare and food-stamp recipients…”