• Medicaid change delayed, By Dale Wetzel (AP), September 16, 2011, Jamestown Sun: “A chronically delayed new computer software system to handle North Dakota’s Medicaid bills, which was to be finished in nine months, will not be working until mid-2013, an executive told state legislators Thursday. The project was originally scheduled to be finished two years ago. Last summer, a vice president for the software’s developer, Affiliated Computer Services Inc., promised it would be functioning by June 2012. ACS is a unit of Xerox Corp…”
• Utah explores extending Medicaid to inmates, By Kirsten Stewart, September 15, 2011, Salt Lake Tribune: “Utah health officials are exploring expanding the state’s Medicaid program to cover inmates’ hospital stays and doctors’ office visits. Inmates have traditionally been barred from the state-federal health insurance program, which caters to the poor and disabled. Currently, the Department of Corrections contracts directly with the University of Utah’s hospital and clinics for procedures that cannot be handled at the prison infirmary, and the state picks up the tab. Moving inmates onto Medicaid would shift most of the funding burden onto the federal government, explained state Medicaid director Michael Hales on Thursday at an advisory board meeting. In the past, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has been loathe to shoulder what has long been a state obligation, said Hales. But the agency has recently signaled a willingness to bend the rules…”
• Calif. Medicaid expansion: A lifeline for ex-convicts, By Sarah Varney, September 13, 2011, National Public Radio: “California has embarked on an ambitious expansion of its Medicaid program, three years ahead of the federal expansion that the health law requires in 2014. At least half a million people are expected to gain coverage - mostly poor adults who never qualified under the old rules because they didn’t have kids at home. Among those who stand to benefit right now are ex-offenders. Inmates often leave California prisons with no consistent place to get medical care. But that’s changing…”

• National report says Minnesota is No. 2 in child health and well-being, By Richard Chin, August 17, 2011, Pioneer Press.
• Minnesota, North Dakota rank high for kids’ well-being, By Ryan Johnson, August 18, 2011, Fargo-Moorhead Forum.
• Report: 36% of Michigan kids live in jobless households, By Karen Bouffard, August 17, 2011, Detroit News.
• More kids in region live in poverty, according to Kids Count report, By Deborah Yetter, August 17, 2011, Louisville Courier-Journal.
• Children’s well-being ranked 31st in nation, By Angela Mapes Turner, August 17, 2011, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.
• Annual report: Recession took a toll on kids, By Erin Andersen, August 17, 2011, Lincoln Journal Star.

Many live in poverty in oil country due to high rent, food prices, By Teri Finneman, August 14, 2011, Dickinson Press: “In one of the state’s wealthiest counties, the line of people waiting for the food pantry to open shows another side of the state’s oil boom story. The oil and gas industry has contributed to the state’s nationally known prosperity and created high-paying jobs in western North Dakota. But those who don’t make oilfield wages face the boom’s negative side effects, including the increasing cost of rent, services and goods. ‘I think the common misconception is that since we are in what most people call ‘oil country,’ that everybody is wealthy,’ said Holly Flatau of the Great Plains Food Bank in Fargo. ‘What it’s actually caused is a greater gap in those that are wealthy and those who are not. It’s harder for people that aren’t wealthy to make it on their own…’”

• Record number of North Dakotans using food stamps, up 19 pct from 2009, By James MacPherson, February 11, 2011, Bismarck Tribune: “A record number of North Dakotans are using food stamps to buy groceries, coinciding with the state’s population growth but contrary to its robust economy, the director of the state Data Center says. North Dakota had an average of 59,888 people per month receiving food assistance in fiscal 2010, up from 53,070 in 2009, said Richard Rathge, the Data Center director and North Dakota demographer. The fiscal year ended Sept. 30. Rathge said the federal Agriculture Department figures show ‘an apparent contradiction’ with North Dakota’s strong economy that has been fueled largely by the state’s booming oil patch. North Dakota’s unemployment rate of 3.8 percent is the nation’s lowest…”
• Record number of Rhode Islanders using food stamps, By Paul Davis, February 11, 2011, Providence Journal: “A record 155,184 Rhode Islanders received food stamps at year’s end, according to figures from the state Department of Human Services. The number of people getting help from the federally financed program - now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP - increased by more than 26,400 people in December, up 20 percent from December 2009. The number has been rising steadily over the past 12 months. That means about one in seven Rhode Islanders relies on government food assistance, another sign that the state’s poorest residents have yet to recover from the worst recession in decades…”

• Hawaii homelessness still rising in wake of recession’s job cuts, By Mary Vorsino, May 5, 2010, Honolulu Advertiser: “Despite signs of an economic recovery, advocates warn that many Hawai’i families are still teetering close to homelessness - or falling into it - as they run through their savings. Shelters islandwide report a steady flow of people coming in who are direct victims of the recession, after losing their jobs or seeing their pay or hours cut. And preliminary results from the state’s annual homeless point-in-time count, conducted in January and to be released this month, show homelessness rose 10 to 15 percent from last year in parts of O’ahu, advocates who oversaw the survey said…”
• Homeless numbers on the rise in metro area, By Helmut Schmidt, May 5, 2010, Forum of Fargo-Moorhead: “Kelvin Pederson and Bruce Wang can tell you a thing or two about homelessness. Pederson, 55, hasn’t had a place of his own for a year. Wang hasn’t had a true home for six years by his reckoning. The two residents at Moorhead’s Churches United for the Homeless said a loss of cheap housing, transportation and lack of credit are among the biggest issues that keep people homeless in the Fargo-Moorhead metro area. ‘I can starve to death and have a roof over my head,’ Pederson said. ‘Or eat and be homeless,’ said Wang, finishing the thought. Both have noticed an increase in the number of homeless people in the area. ‘Every day there’s people looking for beds,’ Pederson said. A survey released Tuesday of North Dakota homelessness - which included Moorhead - backs that up, showing double-digit percentage increases in homelessness the past two years…”

A state with plenty of jobs but few places to live, By Monica Davey, April 20, 2010, New York Times: “When Joey Scott arrived here recently from Montana, he had no trouble finding work - he signed almost immediately with a company working to drill in the oil fields. But finding housing was another matter. Every motel in town was booked, some for months in advance. Every apartment complex, even every mobile home park, had a waiting list. Mr. Scott found himself sleeping in his pickup truck in the Wal-Mart parking lot, shaving and washing his hair in a puddle of melted snow. ‘I’ve got a pocketful of money, but I just can’t find a room,’ said Mr. Scott, 25. North Dakota has a novel problem: plenty of jobs, but nowhere to put the people who hold them…”

Job seekers flock to North Dakota, wind up homeless, By James Macpherson (AP), February 8, 2010, USA Today: “More than almost any other U.S. state, North Dakota has escaped the worst effects of the country’s recession, but with its good fortune has come an unexpected problem: homelessness, as desperate job seekers flow into the largely rural state looking for work. Shelters are full statewide, and soup kitchens are feeding as many as they can. Some homeless newcomers are living in cars, but as temperatures linger below freezing, many are bunking with acquaintances to avoid freezing. Many of the job seekers came to North Dakota without researching jobs or housing, said Louis “Mac” McLeod, executive director of the Minot Area Homeless Coalition. They arrive to find they are unqualified for the work that exists, or if they land a job, they can’t get housing, which is scarce…”

• Agencies, governments to study who can best deliver social services, By Kevin Bonham, November 14, 2009, Grand Forks Herald: “The North Dakota County Commission Association wants the state to shoulder the responsibility - and a share of the financial burden - of delivering social services, such as federal Medicaid, food stamps and temporary assistance for needy families programs. The resolution, initiated by the nine-county Northeast North Dakota County Commission Association, asks the state Legislature to conduct an interim study of the proposal…”
• Counties propose state delivery of social services, Associated Press, November 16, 2009, Jamestown Sun: “North Dakota county officials want the state to take over the delivery of social services programs, including federal Medicaid and food stamps, saying counties can no longer afford to do it. The North Dakota County Commission Association is seeking a two-year study of the idea starting in 2011, the year of the next legislative session. Its resolution says counties would contribute up to 15 mills of property taxes each…”

• More people turn to state to fill basic need: food, By Angie Basiouny, November 2, 2009, Wilmington News Journal: “The number of Delawareans receiving food stamps has jumped by 27.5 percent in the past year, another sign of a recession cutting deeper into household budgets for the most basic of necessities. A total of 98,346 residents — 1 in 9 Delawareans — were enrolled in the food assistance program as of July. Officials said they expect that number to shoot up another 40 percent in the coming year as severance packages offered by many of the state’s biggest employers to laid-off workers expire…”
• Grand Forks County Social Services sees 30 percent spike in assistance, By Kevin Bonham, November 1, 2009, Grand Forks Herald: “North Dakota might not be feeling the full effects of the economic recession that has crippled the nation over the past year or so, but local taxpayers are feeling the pain. Some symptoms are surfacing in the Grand Forks County Social Services Department. The total number of households in Grand Forks County receiving some type of assistance has increased by nearly 30 percent in just two years. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps, represents the largest increase, with the number of households growing by 35 percent since 2007. In October 2009, 5,677 residents were receiving SNAP benefits. That’s about 8.5 percent of the county’s population, which the U.S. Census Bureau estimated at 66,585 in 2008…”

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…”