• State Medicaid programs face $141 million shortfall, report says, By Jason Stein, January 31, 2012, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Wisconsin’s health programs for the poor have a $141 million shortfall in state money over the next year and a half, new estimates show. So far, GOP Gov. Scott Walker’s administration has saving plans that would more that cover that potential deficit in the state’s Medicaid health programs. But a new report by the Legislature’s nonpartisan budget office questions whether all of the saving will materialize. With costs in the program still substantial and the saving uncertain, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau found in its new report that the finances of the health programs will need careful monitoring. The report comes ahead of new estimates expected next week that should shed more light on the overall condition of the state’s strained budget…”
• Medicaid rolls rose even as Pa. disqualified many, new calculation shows, By Don Sapatkin, January 26, 2012, Philadelphia Inquirer: “The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare’s stepped-up efforts over the summer to target waste, fraud, and abuse quickly bore fruit in the fall. Adult Medicaid enrollment alone was down 109,000 through November. Cause and effect seemed clear. Advocates for the poor and disabled were outraged. Now, DPW has suddenly changed its reporting method. Revised calculations show a decline of just 6,000 participants for the same period. And when December is added in, enrollment is up by 23,000 since August - a time when officials agree that tens of thousands of people lost benefits after overdue reviews found they were ineligible. DPW says the new reporting method is just as accurate as the old one, merely different. But it will not disclose its new method or recalculate the latest Medicaid data using the old formula…”
• Medicaid copays could increase in South Dakota, By Megan Luther, January 31, 2012, Sioux Falls Argus Leader: “Medicaid recipients in South Dakota will face larger copays for their medication if the federal government signs off on a state plan designed to drive down costs in the program that provides health care to poor people. Requiring the larger copays is one of 11 recommendations put forth by the Medicaid Solutions Work Group, an assembly of health care providers, lawmakers and state employees assigned with finding savings the the program. The group began work last year at the request of Gov. Dennis Daugaard…”
• Medicaid change to cut pharmacy payments in Texas, By Jim Fuquay, January 28, 2012, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “When Marwan Hattab opened Wedgwood Pharmacy just over a year ago, he knew from his previous years in the business how much it costs to fill a prescription. And he knows it’s quite a bit more than he’ll be paid under a new reimbursement system for Texas’ Medicaid program. The state’s move to managed care for Medicaid prescriptions goes into effect March 1, and Hattab and other independent pharmacists say they stand to lose money on every prescription they write for the federal/state healthcare program for the poor. A coalition of Texas pharmacies said last week that the dispensing fee that pharmacists receive for filing a Texas Medicaid prescription will plunge from about $6.50 to as little as $1.35. The change is part of legislation passed last year that aims to save the state an estimated $100 million over the next two years…”

• Bigger share of state cash for Medicaid, By Michael Cooper, December 13, 2011, New York Times: “Medicaid has steadily eaten up a growing share of state budgets over the past three years, while education has been getting a smaller slice of the pie. That is one of the changes that the lingering economic downturn and the changing American economy have wrought on state finances, according to an analysis of state spending over the last few years released Tuesday by the National Association of State Budget Officers…”
• State Medicaid spending soars, By Lisa Lambert, December 14, 2011, Chicago Tribune: “Spending by U.S. states on Medicaid, the healthcare program for the poor, soared last year and will likely continue growing despite measures to contain costs, according to a report released on Tuesday. Total Medicaid spending, excluding administrative costs, likely reached $398.6 billion in fiscal 2011, which ended in June for most states. That was up 10.1 percent from the year before, when spending rose 6 percent, the National Association of State Budget Officers reported. Medicaid was nearly one-quarter of all state expenditures in fiscal 2011, compared to elementary and secondary education, which accounted for 20 percent of all spending…”
• Medicaid money for Texas to jump, By Don Finley, December 13, 2011, San Antonio Express-News: “The federal government Monday granted Texas a waiver that could mean billions more in Medicaid dollars to hospitals over the next few years, in return for having them work together to provide better care for the poor. In Bexar County, that could mean new money to help keep the mentally ill from overusing crowded hospital emergency rooms, among other new services, one local official said. At the same time, federal officials slapped down a request from Texas to deny Medicaid patients access to family planning centers such as Planned Parenthood that also provide abortions - a plan that had drawn the anger of family planning advocates…”
• Medicaid waiver could be boon for Texas hospitals, By Don Finley, December 12, 2011, Houston Chronicle: “The federal government on Monday granted Texas a waiver that could mean billions more in Medicaid dollars to hospitals over the next few years in return for having them work together to provide better care for the poor…”
• Studies point to flaws in Florida’s Medicaid managed care, By Christine Vestal, December 14, 2011, Stateline.org: “Like many other states in fiscal duress, Florida sliced a large portion of its Medicaid budget this fiscal year, primarily by cutting payments to hospitals, nursing homes and other health care providers. Next year, Governor Rick Scott wants to double the size of reductions to the federal-state program - again by cutting provider fees. Within the next two years, however, the Republican governor expects to shave billions from the state budget by letting private health plans take over the care of all of Florida’s Medicaid patients - more than 3 million people. Scott’s plan is a statewide expansion of a controversial five-county managed care pilot started by Republican former Governor Jeb Bush in 2006. The state Medicaid office sought approval for the plan in August and a decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is expected soon…”
• Gov. Rick Scott’s proposed budget includes $2.1 billion cut in Medicaid, By Matt Dixon, December 12, 2011, Florida Times-Union: “When Gov. Rick Scott unveiled his proposed $66.4 billion budget last week, many people in the capital and around the state cast it as schools versus hospitals. Scott’s spending plan injected public education with a roughly $1 billion increase but cut $2.1 billion in reimbursements for Medicaid. The cut prompted a fast pushback from the Safety Net Alliance of Florida, a lobbying group that represents 15 of the state’s biggest hospitals. It estimates the cuts would cost its members $1.4 billion…”
• Maine Medicaid deficit mainly due to budget miscalculations, By John Richardson, December 13, 2011, Portland Press Herald: “A $120 million budget deficit projected for the fiscal year that began July 1 has set off an ideological debate over the future of Maine’s Medicaid program. The deficit itself, however, is mostly the result of a series of technical budgeting miscalculations, according to a report prepared by the LePage administration. Problems with a new claims processing system, a loss of federal funds that wasn’t accounted for, and a failure to budget for increases in federal Medicare premiums are among the biggest causes…”
• Proposed Medicaid cuts draw big protests in Maine, By John Gramlich, December 15, 2011, Stateline.org: “Earlier this year, it was Arizona that drew national attention for removing tens of thousands of its citizens from the Medicaid rolls. Now, Maine Governor Paul LePage wants to do the same, saying the state-federal health insurance program is becoming unsustainable. LePage is pushing a proposal that would eliminate 65,000 Mainers from Medicaid, as the Bangor Daily News reports. At a hearing on the proposal Wednesday (December 14), hundreds of protesters converged on the State House to voice their disapproval of the plan, which seeks to close a $220 million shortfall in the state health and human services budget…”
• Report on R.I’s Global Medicaid Waiver finds $22M in savings, By Richard Asinof, December 14, 2011, Providence Business News: “The long-awaited report by the Lewin Group on Rhode Island’s Global Medicaid Waiver was released on Dec. 13, finding that some $22.9 million in savings had been created over three years, far below the $100 million in savings claimed by Gary Alexander, former Secretary of the R.I. Office of Health and Human Services under former Gov. Donald L. Carcieri’s administration…”
• Pa.’s drop in Medicaid rolls stirs controversy, By Don Sapatkin, December 15, 2011, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Since August, the Corbett administration has cut off more than 150,000 people - including 43,000 children - from medical assistance in a drive to save costs. That purge far exceeds what any other state has tried, health policy experts say, and officials may be walking a fine line between rooting out waste and erecting barriers to care for the poor and disabled. When most states were experiencing flat or rising Medicaid enrollment from the economic downturn, stepped-up eligibility reviews in Pennsylvania began producing a decline over the summer. The pace of cuts picked up in November, with 90,000 cases, or 4 percent, dropped in a single month. In New Jersey, enrollment increased by 391 the same month…”

Texas may cut Medicaid reimbursements to healthcare providers, By Darren Barbee, November 20, 2011, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “Therapy and physician groups in Texas are alarmed about proposed cuts in government healthcare reimbursement rates that they say would hurt the sickest and poorest Texas patients, most of them children. Therapists stand to lose millions of dollars as Medicaid reimbursement rates for their services are slashed. The average reduction for home health providers, for example, would be 35 percent. All told, the state plan calls for cutting $150 million a year for therapists; that is 19 percent of the $792 million they received last year. The state would save millions more with cuts in co-payments to physicians for people covered by both Medicaid and Medicare. But doctors say the proposed change will further push doctors from wanting to practice in less affluent parts of the state…”

• Lower Medicaid dispensing fees may pressure pharmacies, By Claire Cardona, October 14, 2011, New York Times: “In Rio Grande City, Rene Martinez’s Starr Pharmacy has one line for Medicaid patients and another for non-Medicaid patients. On some days, most of his clients can be found waiting on the Medicaid line, a testament to the importance of that federal-state health insurance program in this poor city along the Texas-Mexico border - and to Mr. Martinez’s bottom line. His store is one of a number of independent pharmacies in Texas that may have to lay off workers and cut services like free delivery to homebound patients because of looming lower dispensing fees. Beginning in March, a new managed-care plan goes into effect that reduces the amount pharmacies receive for filling Medicaid prescriptions…”
• Medicaid stand-in rebuffed by feds, By Niki Kelly, Journal Gazette, October 1, 2011, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “The federal government on Friday rejected Indiana’s proposal to use its Healthy Indiana insurance plan in place of a Medicaid expansion beginning in 2014. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a letter that the state’s request was premature because rules related to the expansion have not yet been finalized and encouraged Indiana to apply again in the future…”
• Medicaid overhaul saves $600M, By Casey Seiler, October 6, 2011, Albany Times-Union: “The first phase of the state’s attempt to overhaul its health insurance program for low-income residents has achieved almost $600 million in savings in its first six months, according to a progress report released Wednesday. Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team gathered at The Egg to hear team reports and receive a demonstration of the Medicaid Visual Data Mining system, which allows state officials and health care managers to track spending in a more targeted and quick-response fashion. ‘We are now live-managing the program,’ said Greg Allen of the state Department of Health, who demonstrated how the system could be used to track anomalies that could indicate possible fraud or other problems. State Health Commissioner Nirav Shah suggested the data tool could be used by hospitals to track re-admission rates due to infections or other phenomena…”

Texas juvenile justice reforms working, group says, By Allan Turner, October 4, 2011, Houston Chronicle: “Reforms instituted in the wake of 2007 allegations of widespread sexual abuse of minors in Texas Youth Commission facilities have led to dramatic improvements in the way the state deals with young offenders, according to a national juvenile justice study released Tuesday. Authors of the Annie E. Casey Foundation study, No Place for Kids: The Case for Reducing Juvenile Incarceration, reported Texas’ number of incarcerated minors dropped from 4,800 in August 2006 to 1,800 in August 2010 - without an increase in the state’s crime rate or juvenile arrests…”

Medicaid managed care is a growing but risky business, By Christopher Weaver, August 26, 2011, Washington Post: “Sanjuanita Espinoza, 55, doesn’t seem like a gold mine for private insurers. She’s disabled, has high blood pressure and has no family to help with her care. Yet, to some Texas insurers, she is an opportunity. In August, the state picked five health plans in South Texas to oversee care for people such as Espinoza who are enrolled in Medicaid, the state-federal program for the poor. This scenario is playing out across the country as states increasingly turn to private insurers to rein in the cost of Medicaid. But Medicaid managed care is a risky business. Many new enrollees are older and sicker than the people health plans typically cover. The political environment is fierce, and insurers face resistance from physicians, hospitals and perhaps patients…”

• Tennessee kids’ well-being up, but poverty is, too, By Adam Tamburin, August 17, 2011, The Tennessean.
• Louisiana ranks 49th nationwide in child welfare survey, By Katy Reckdahl, August 17, 2011, New Orleans Times-Picayune.
• Report: Arkansas ranks 47th in nation in well-being of children, By John Lyon, August 17, 2011, Arkansas News.
• Alabama ranks 48th for child health, well-being in Annie E. Casey Foundation 2011 Kids Count data, By Jeff Hansen, August 17, 2011, Birmingham News.
• State last in child welfare, By Ellen Ciurczak, August 17, 2011, Hattiesburg American.
• Oklahoma ranks 43rd in child well-being, By Mike Averill, August 17, 2011, Tulsa World.
• Study finds one of every four Texas children lives in poverty, By Gary Scharrer, August 17, 2011, San Antonio Express-News.

Major health problems linked to poverty, By Emily Ramshaw, July 9, 2011, New York Times: “Laura knows what comfort feels like: Before leaving Reynosa, Mexico, for Texas a few years ago, she lived with her in-laws in a house with bedrooms and flushing toilets, with electricity and a leak-free roof. Now, the 23-year-old - since deserted by her husband but still helped financially by his father - pays $187 a month to live in a dirt-floored shack that is part broken-down motor home, part splintered plywood shed. She bathes her five runny-nosed, half-clothed children, all under 10, with water siphoned from a neighbor’s garden hose. And she scrubs their diapers and school uniforms in the same sink where she rinses their dinner beans. As she glanced sheepishly at her feet, Laura, who declined to give her name because of her immigration status, pointed out the family’s bathroom: a makeshift outhouse, only yards from the large scrap pile her youngest children scale like a mountain. She would return to a better life in Mexico, she said, if she were not sure her children would have a brighter future in the United States. The conditions in which Laura and her children live are common for the roughly half-million people living in Texas’ colonias. These impoverished communities are found in all border states, but Texas, with the longest border, has the most, an estimated 2,300…”

• The other healthcare lawsuit: California Medicaid (aka Medi-Cal) case headed to Supreme Court, By Marilyn Chase, June 6, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “With valet parking for patients, video-conferencing for parents of premature babies and a healing garden abloom with azaleas, Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital tries to maintain the amenities of a thriving community hospital. But chief financial officer Mich Riccioni is focused on the fiscal strains Memorial is facing. Nearly a quarter of the hospital’s patients are on California’s Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, and the state has been trying for years to cut its reimbursement rates for hospitals and other healthcare providers. Memorial, a 278-bed hospital in this city 55 miles north of San Francisco, sued California to try to stop the payment reductions. Now it is part of a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that could redefine states’ responsibilities on Medicaid services and ultimately determine whether Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown can go forward with cuts he says are vital to closing the state’s budget gap. The court is likely to hear arguments in the fall and render a decision by next spring…”
• Texas House approves Medicaid changes, By Chris Tomlinson (AP), June 8, 2011, Houston Chronicle: “Texas lawmakers passed major changes to Medicaid on Wednesday that would privatize the health program in South Texas and allow the formation of health care cooperatives. The 142-page measure is part of a special legislative session. The Legislative Budget Board says it could save the state $467 million, almost two-thirds of that from Medic­aid savings. Medic­aid is a joint state and federal health insurance program for the poor and disabled…”

Walker wants private sector to run assistance programs, By Jessica VanEgeren, May 11, 2011, Capital Times: “Vivian Colon is often the first point of contact for Dane County’s most vulnerable residents when they find themselves in desperate situations. From parents seeking emergency medical care for a sick child to those who live paycheck to paycheck and have little money left for food, Colon treats everyone the same when they walk through the doors of the Dane County Job Center on Aberg Avenue. She greets them with a smile. ‘A lot of people need help when they first come in,’ says Colon, who has worked for the county for nearly four years. ‘For some people, it’s their first time applying for benefits. Other people aren’t computer-friendly. They don’t know how to use a mouse or they can’t type. It’s my job to help them if they get stuck during any part of the process - beginning, middle or end.’ Every county across the state has a center like the one where Colon works. The centers function as one-stop shops where people can apply for food and medical assistance at the same time. Applications can be filled out online, over the phone or on paper. Whichever way applicants choose to go, county and state workers are there to help them through any stumbling blocks. But a provision in Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget would change all that by creating an ‘income maintenance administrative unit’ to centralize and largely privatize the operation of the food assistance, or FoodShare program, and Medicaid programs in Wisconsin…”

When the next meal is a maybe, By Renée C. Lee, April 25, 2011, Houston Chronicle: “Every day more than 700,000 people in Harris County are uncertain about where they will get their next meal. Not all of them are poor - many are working people who don’t qualify for federal food programs. These are among the findings of a recent study that provides the first detailed look at hunger at the county level. Harris County families struggling to keep food on the table have a food budget shortfall of $12.97 per week, per person. To fill the meal gap, $277 million is needed annually to ensure that every person has three meals a day, according to the report’s calculations. The federal government defines food insecurity as limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods. On average, food insecure families go at least seven months of the year without enough food, the study said. The study, based on 2009 figures, was conducted by Feeding America, a national hunger relief organization, with the goal of helping local food banks develop better strategies to target hunger. Food banks traditionally have relied on state and national data to estimate food insecurity needs, but the new county data give them a more accurate assessment…”

Building wealth in rural America, By Ray Lopez, April 19, 2011, Daily Yonder: “Residents of rural communities face different challenges than their urban counterparts when they try to build assets or take steps to achieve financial security. The reasons are many and familiar. Rural communities have seen their share of economic struggles in recent years. Nearly one in six people living in rural America fell below the poverty line in 2009, according to U.S. Census data. Of the nearly 3 million Texas residents who were classified as rural by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, 19.5 percent were below the poverty line. That is 3 percentage points higher than in urban Texas. Unemployment and educational attainment levels were also worse in rural Texas than in urban Texas…”

Empty homes and promises, By Yang Wang, April 3, 2011, Houston Chronicle: “The simple brick veneer place on Cairnleigh Drive was supposed to be the home of a low-income family who - through the good graces of the Houston Housing Authority - could conquer the unimaginable and buy their own house. But there is no family graced enough to live there. And likely never will be. The windows are boarded up and a sign warns trespassers that violators will be prosecuted. No one has lived there since 2007, when its public housing renter, Sheena Johnson, and her six children were evicted and the house put up for sale - one of some 174 vacant homes owned by the HHA and taxpayers. The house squats in a northwest Houston neighborhood, its screens torn and windows broken, an empty testament to faltering promises by the HHA to provide affordable homes to the economically disadvantaged. The ’scattered sites’ housing program has done little more in the last four years than frustrate potential buyers and reject others, leaving properties neither occupied nor sold - the profits of which could benefit the public agency or help other housing programs, a Houston Chronicle investigation shows…”

• Texas leads nation in minimum wage workers, By Steve Clark, March 28, 2011, Brownsville Herald: “If there’s anything faintly resembling good news in a just-released report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, it’s that Texas’ share of hourly workers at or below minimum wage among U.S. states fell from 14.3 percent in 2009 to 9.5 percent in 2010. This just barely qualifies as a positive, however, since the number of Texas hourly workers at or below the prevailing federal minimum wage still increased by 76,000 over 2009. At 9.5 percent, Texas ties with Mississippi in terms of U.S. states with the highest proportion of hourly-paid workers earning at or below federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour. Texas and Mississippi take top honors, therefore, in terms of having the lowest paid workers among all 50 states and the District of Columbia. To be fair, low wages are partly a function of lower cost of living. In Cameron County and the Rio Grande Valley, low wages and low cost of living - by some measures - go hand in hand, and are both a blessing and a curse in the view of economic development officials…”
• Lone Star State ties Mississippi in low pay count, By Patrick Danner, March 28, 2011, Houston Chronicle: “Texas tied with Mississippi for states having the highest percentage of hourly paid workers earning the minimum wage or less. Some 550,000 Texans, or 9.5 percent of hourly paid workers, made the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour or less last year. That’s up 76,000 workers, or 16 percent, from 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported…”

• Medicaid savings unrealistic, study says, By Warren Wolfe and Rachel Stassen-Berger, March 22, 2011, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Faulty information is driving a plan by Minnesota House Republicans to save $300 million in Medicaid spending over the next two years by seeking to exempt the state from some federal rules in exchange for a lump-sum block grant, a Washington think tank says. The House proposal is based on a 2009 ‘global Medicaid waiver’ for Rhode Island that some former officials say saved the state about $150 million in its first 18 months. But the ’savings’ actually came from extra federal Recovery Act money to states — including $400 million to Rhode Island — to help them cope with the recession, said the report by health policy analysts at the Center on Budget and Policy Research, published last week and updated Tuesday…”
• Opponents of Medicaid cuts warn of devastating ripple effect, By Chuck Lindell, March 22, 2011, Austin American-Statesman: “Proposed steep cuts to state Medicaid spending threaten to force medically fragile children and adults with disabilities away from home care and into nursing homes and other institutions, health care advocates said at Capitol rallies Tuesday. At the same time, however, the 33 percent cuts proposed for Medicaid-funded nursing homes will force agencies to close across Texas, limiting options for thousands of the state’s elderly, advocates warned. The ripple effect of the cuts - estimated at $7.6 billion to almost $10 billion, or roughly one-third of Texas’ Medicaid spending - will endanger lives, kill jobs, strain the state’s economy, and cost Texas more money in the long run, they said…”

• State keeps pressing for waiver to change Medicaid, but success is unlikely, By Emily Ramshawand Marilyn Werber Serafini, February 17, 2011, New York Times: “Just a few months ago, Gov. Rick Perry led a group of Texas lawmakers who were threatening to drop out of Medicaid, the state-federal health care program for the poor. A state analysis showing that Texas would lose billions of dollars in financing put an end to talk of opting out. Now, the debate has shifted, as Texas and other struggling states ask Washington for permission to operate the program as they see fit. Their approach - finding savings by curbing mandatory benefits or limiting eligibility among Medicaid populations - is unlikely to be approved by the Obama administration, which is intent on expanding Medicaid, not shrinking it. And while pressing for a waiver is a far cry from threatening to drop out, it may have the same result: fueling the fire behind Texas’ anti-Washington, state-sovereignty rhetoric…”
• Cutting Medicaid harder than issuing soundbites, senators learn, By Robert T. Garrett, February 14, 2011, Dallas Morning News: “Texas budget writers are finding that cutting Medicaid is harder than it sounds. Reducing services that states don’t have to provide for poor adults is already a part of both chambers’ initial budgets. But Senate health budget writers were warned Monday to tread carefully for fear of costing the state more in the long run…”

• State’s poor pose intricate challenge, By Kevin Yamamura, February 14, 2011, Sacramento Bee: “As Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed slashing government aid for poor people, he argues that California still provides more generous benefits than many other states. His budget, chock full of comparisons, notes that ‘Texas and Illinois have a hard limit of three prescriptions per month” and “South Dakota charges 5 percent of costs up to $50 for emergency room visits.’ It’s all relative, he says. ‘If you compare (the safety net) to other states, we’re still doing reasonably well,’ Brown said last month when he released his budget. ‘If you compare us to some European states, we’re not doing so well at all. So it depends upon what your yardstick is.’ A Sacramento Bee review of several national yardsticks found that while California has a high share of people receiving low-income aid, the benefits they receive are not necessarily more generous than those provided in other states…”
• Lawsuit seen as likely if Medicaid is cut, By Nolan Hicks, February 13, 2011, San Antonio Express-News: “If proposed cutbacks to Medicaid reimbursement rates for doctors and dentists are enacted by the Legislature, the state risks another lawsuit over the level of health care Texas provides to poor children, health and human services officials warn. The cuts, which were suggested in the Texas House’s initial budget proposal, would reduce the rate Medicaid pays doctors and dentists by at least 10 percent. Slashing spending on social programs such as Medicaid is an important element of Republican efforts to balance the budget without increasing taxes…”

• For governors, Medicaid looks ripe for slashing, By Kevin Sack, January 28, 2011, New York Times: “Hamstrung by federal prohibitions against lowering Medicaid eligibility, governors from both parties are exercising their remaining options in proposing bone-deep cuts to the program during the fourth consecutive year of brutal economic conditions. Because states confront budget gaps estimated at $125 billion, few essential services - schools, roads, parks - are likely to escape the ax. But the election of tough-minded governors, the evaporation of federal aid, the relentless growth of Medicaid rolls and the exhaustion of alternatives have made the program, which primarily covers low-income children and disabled adults, an outsize target…”
• Medicaid cuts could lead to higher taxes, insurance premiums, By Tim Eaton, January 28, 2011, Austin American-Statesman: “Even if you don’t rely on Medicaid, Texas lawmakers’ proposed cuts in the health care program could cost you money. Cutting Medicaid could have outcomes beyond fewer services for the poor, several local officials in the health care industry said. Notably, taxpayers in Central Texas could end up with increased local taxes and higher insurance premiums, according to several Central Texas health care professionals. Tom Banning, the CEO for the Texas Academy of Family Physicians, said the proposed cuts don’t equate to savings. Rather, there is simply a shuffling of expenses. ‘This has the potential to be the biggest cost shift to local governments that Texas has ever seen,’ Banning said. The two largest hospital groups in Austin echoed those concerns…”

• Shelters try ‘housing first’ protocol to help homeless people, By Bill Laitner, December 29, 2010, Detroit Free Press: “An innovative way to help homeless people, called housing first, has dramatically shortened their stays in the South Oakland Shelter system based in Royal Oak and could make shelter programs statewide more effective, experts said. By making permanent housing the first priority at the South Oakland Shelter and addressing other needs — such as job training — later, average stays dropped from four months to 28 days since summer, Executive Director Ryan Hertz said. The organization houses an average of 30 men, women and children at a time, rotating them through 67 churches and synagogues, where volunteers set up cots and serve meals. ‘We’re turning over our beds much faster, so we can help more people,’ Hertz said. But the housing-first approach has taken more than a decade to gain wide acceptance across Michigan because it requires homeless people, shelters’ clients, to have incomes, and there must be safe housing available that they can afford, Wayne State University psychologist and homelessness expert Paul Toro said…”
• New face of homelessness is a family, Dallas-area agencies say, By Kim Horner, January 7, 2011, Dallas Morning News: “First, they stayed with family. Then, they rented a trailer. Finally, they went to a shelter. Katrina Stephens, Alan Charles Walker and their three young children became homeless after Walker’s construction work dried up. Now, the family lives in a modest East Dallas apartment as part of Family Gateway’s transitional housing program. Stephens plans to finish school to become a medical assistant this spring. ‘We’re back on track,’ she said. The economy has taken a similar toll on thousands of families nationwide - and the numbers are rising. About 80,000 families - typically a single woman with young children - are homeless on any given night, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Families are the fastest-growing homeless population, according to Family Gateway and other local agencies…”

• Arizona Medicaid cuts seen as a sign of the times, By Kevin Sack, December 4, 2010, New York Times: “With enrollments exploding, revenues shrinking and the low-hanging fruit plucked long ago, virtually every state has had to make painful cuts to its Medicaid program during the economic downturn. What distinguishes the reductions recently imposed in Arizona, where coverage was eliminated on Oct. 1 for certain transplants of the heart, liver, lung, pancreas and bone marrow, is the decision to stop paying for treatments urgently needed to ward off death. The cuts in transplant coverage, which could deny organs to 100 adults currently on the transplant list, are testament to both the severity of fiscal pressures on the states and the particular bloodlessness of budget-cutting in Arizona…”
• Study: Millions could lose health coverage if Texas opts out of Medicaid, By Robert T. Garrett, December 3, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Up to 2.6 million Texans could lose health coverage if the state opts out of Medicaid, but rising costs make the program very hard to maintain, a new state study warns. Texas faces ‘a no-win dilemma’ because withdrawing from Medicaid would mean a loss of about $15 billion in federal funds a year, representing about one-tenth of the state’s health care sector, said the report released by two state agencies Friday. And that would allow other states to siphon off that money, some of it from Texas taxpayers…”
• Redefine federal-state relationship with Medicaid, report says, By Tim Eaton, December 3, 2010, Austin American-Statesman: “If Texas were to opt out of Medicaid, as Gov. Rick Perry and other politicians have suggested, medical providers would lose about $15 billion in federal money, and the state would be hard-pressed to provide health care for poor people, according to a new report Friday. As the report circulated, Perry backtracked on his earlier suggestions, and he and other officials talked about hopes of reinventing the federal-state health care program for 3.2 million mostly poor, young and disabled Texans…”

• Medicaid squeeze: Shrinking federal reimbursements cause doctors to limit care to needy, By Louise Knott Ahern, November 14, 2010, Lansing State Journal: “In a 16-county swath across Northern Michigan, pregnant women have to drive an hour or more to reach a hospital where they can deliver their babies. From Cheboygan to West Branch to Clare, hospitals have been closing their obstetrics units since last summer in a startling domino effect that has health care activists worried about care availability for rural mothers and babies. But they’re equally alarmed about the reason behind the hospital closures. The hospitals blame, in large part, Medicaid. And health care reform advocates say that reflects a broader problem. Since 2002, the state has been chipping away at how much it reimburses doctors and hospitals for treating Medicaid patients to a point where some say they’ve reached a painful bottom-line reality: It has become too expensive to treat poor people…”
• Conservative legislators in Texas seek to opt out of Medicaid, By Dave Montgomery, November 13, 2010, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “A push from conservative legislators for Texas to opt out of Medicaid is stirring alarm among healthcare providers and nursing homes, which say the potential loss of billions of federal dollars could drastically undercut efforts to provide healthcare for the poor. The opt-out plan has quickly emerged as another high-profile topic for the 2011 Legislature, pushed by Gov. Rick Perry and a number of conservative lawmakers who believe that Texas can provide health coverage to the indigent more efficiently with a state-run plan free of federal mandates…”

• Medicaid easy to cut in theory, not reality, By Catherine Candisky, November 14, 2010, Columbus Dispatch: “The state budget crisis has put a target on the backs of 2million Ohioans on Medicaid - children and pregnant women, the disabled and elderly - but scaling back the tax-funded health-care program comes with its own price tag. For every dollar Ohio cuts in Medicaid spending, it loses $2 in federal matching funds. The human toll also could be staggering. Ohio’s Medicaid program pays for: • 1 in 3 births. • Half the patients treated at Ohio’s six children’s hospitals. • 70 percent of nursing-home care. The state’s Medicaid spending has reached $15.4 billion a year. That money provides care to the poor and disabled and pays doctors, nurses, home health aides and other service providers. According to state officials, Medicaid now makes up more than 3percent of the state’s economy. But most agree the tab - $29,000 per minute - is one Ohio taxpayers can no longer afford…”
• Is Texas really thinking of opting out of Medicaid?, By Corrie MacLaggan, November 13, 2010, Austin American-Statesman: “It’s been the buzz this past week in certain corners of the Texas Capitol: Is the Lone Star State really considering dropping out of the Medicaid program? GOP Gov. Rick Perry, fresh off a big re-election win and touting his new book on states’ rights, is among those who say it’s a good idea. The election results - which included a huge haul of state House seats for Republicans - have left some Capitol watchers wondering whether they should take seriously an idea that might have been immediately discarded in the past. Never mind that no state has ever ditched Medicaid. Or that the federal government typically kicks in about 6 of every 10 dollars spent on the health care program in Texas. Medicaid pays for more than half of all births and chips in for the care of nearly two-thirds of all nursing home residents in the state. And top medical industry officials say opting out of Medicaid would cripple the state’s health care system and hurt the economy…”

• Medicaid managed care programs grow; so do issues, By Phil Galewitz, November 12, 2010, USA Today: “After Tonya Bauserman slipped in a grocery store and hurt her right knee last July, an emergency room doctor prescribed painkillers and told her to see an orthopedic surgeon. But Bauserman, 27, who’s insured by a Medicaid managed health care plan called HealthCare USA, says she had trouble finding an orthopedist in her plan who would see her. Finally, she drove 2½ hours to Columbia from her home in a northwestern suburb here to see a physician, who fitted her for a brace and recommended physical therapy. HealthCare USA later said it wouldn’t pay for the brace. Furious, Bauserman says her experience was ‘crazy.’ But it’s not uncommon. Primary care physicians in the area say a shortage of specialists in Medicaid managed-care networks makes it difficult sometimes to refer patients…”
• Battle lines drawn over Medicaid in Texas, By Emily Ramshaw and Marilyn Serafini, November 11, 2010, New York Times: “A week after newly emboldened Republicans in the Texas Legislature floated a radical cost-saving proposal - opting out of the federal Medicaid program - health care experts, economists and think tanks are trying to determine just how serious they are, and if it would even be possible. The answer? It is complicated. But that is not stopping some conservative lawmakers in nearly a dozen other states, frantic over budget shortfalls and anticipating new costs from the federal health care overhaul, from exploring it. ‘States feel like their backs are against the wall, so this is the nuclear option for them,’ said Christie Herrera, director of the health and human services task force for the American Legislative Exchange Council, an association for conservative state lawmakers. ‘I’m hearing below-the-radar chatter from legislators around the country from states considering this option…’”

State makes progress on food stamp backlog, By Corrie MacLaggan, September 7, 2010, Austin American-Statesman: “With hundreds of new workers on board, Texas has dramatically improved its speed and accuracy processing food stamp applications, Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Tom Suehs plans to tell state lawmakers today. But he’ll also tell the joint gathering of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and the House-Senate panel overseeing the eligibility system that he needs more resources, including more workers. ‘Yes, we’ve turned it around,’ Suehs told the American-Statesman on Tuesday. But he added: ‘We still have a long way to go to maintain it there. This thing is still in a precarious situation.’ In August, Texas processed 93.5 percent of applications within the required 30 days, compared with 58.6 percent in September 2009, according to the commission. A year ago, the state routinely failed to process food stamp applications as quickly as required by the federal and state governments. Some families waited months for aid, and those who were eligible were at times denied benefits because of processing errors…”

Phone troubles hang up Texas welfare requests, By Robert T. Garrett, August 31, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Even as Texas spends hundreds of millions to hire more workers to process welfare applications, it has skimped on replacing obsolete phone systems at more than 300 offices. At some, phones are more than two decades old and prone to ‘port failures’ in which callers hear a ring, but no line actually rings in the office, officials said. Also, many newly hired workers do not have voicemail. Experienced workers and supervisors do, but they complain of occasional malfunctions, which can make entire offices unreachable. The situation has added frustration and complications for Texans applying for benefits as the economy sags…”

Proposed cuts would slash services for poor, mentally ill, other Texans in dire need, By Robert T. Garrett, August 26, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Some of Texas’ most vulnerable residents - the very poor, the mentally ill, those suffering from birth defects, and children from troubled families - would lose state support and services under several new budget-cutting proposals. In one of the deepest proposed cuts, made public Tuesday by the Health and Human Services Commission, monthly welfare payments to extremely poor households with children would be cut about 20 percent, to an average of about $57 per person a month. In two-parent families, payments per person would be slashed by half, to about $33…”

Deep cuts in family services proposed for 2012-13, By Corrie MacLaggan, August 20, 2010, Austin American-Statesman: “More than 14,000 Texans who are now in state programs designed to prevent child abuse, neglect and delinquency would lose those services under a state budget-cutting proposal, according to Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Tom Suehs. The Department of Family and Protective Services is suggesting cutting its prevention and early intervention programs by $73.7 million - 84 percent - in the face of the state’s projected $18 billion shortfall for the 2012-2013 budget. The programs contract with nonprofits and local governments to provide services such as mentoring, parenting classes and family crisis intervention counseling. Advocates for at-risk children say that the cuts would be disastrous for low-income families, who are the primary recipients of such services. And they say that stripping programs designed to keep children out of the juvenile justice and child welfare systems would be costlier to the state in the long term…”

• Feds offer aid to renters as well as homeowners, By Kathleen Pender, August 15, 2010, San Francisco Chronicle: “Congress and the Obama administration have committed tens of billions of dollars to keep homeowners in their homes. Renters, who make up about one-third of households nationwide - and close to two-thirds in San Francisco and other large cities - wish the government would do a little more for them. For homeowners, Obama’s Making Home Affordable program obtained $50 billion from the Troubled Assets Relief Program plus $25 billion, mainly from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Originally this money was supposed to help homeowners refinance or modify subprime mortgages (which qualified as troubled assets). More recently it has been used to help those who can’t pay their mortgage because they are unemployed. Last week, the Treasury said it is using $2 billion to help unemployed homeowners in 17 states, including California…”
• Habitat for Humanity uses federal funds to rehab metro Detroit homes, By Tammy Stables Battaglia, August 16, 2010, Detroit Free Press: “Habitat for Humanity, an agency known for building new houses, is using funds from the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program to rehab old ones. The program, created in 2008 under President George W. Bush, provides communities and organizations funding to redevelop residential properties. That money must be allocated to projects by Sept. 19. In 2006, seven of 52 Habitat homes in Michigan were rehabs. The organization rehabbed 104 of its 221 homes during the first three months of this year, and there are dozens more projects to be completed, Habitat officials said…”
• Red tape slows North Texas agencies in disseminating federal funds to fight homelessness, By Neena Satija, August 15, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Getting federal stimulus money to those in need had a slow start in North Texas, with understaffed agencies bogged down in paperwork. Now that the initiative is in full swing - the job has only gotten harder. North Texas received $25 million for the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing program in September. As of March, it had only spent $2 million. Now, it has spent $7 million and helped 7,800 households. But a faster flow of dollars means a bigger maze of red tape…”

Food stamps agency requests staffing boost, By Robert T. Garrett, August 17, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Texas’ system for handling requests for food stamps and other aid will require more than 1,900 additional state workers over the next few years to keep up with heavy demand, a top official has told state leaders. However, Health and Human Services Commissioner Tom Suehs asked for slightly more than 1,500 new eligibility workers in a recent preview of how much money his agency will request in the next two-year budget cycle. Commission spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman denied Monday that Suehs pared his budget request to help state GOP leaders cope with a massive budget shortfall. ‘We’ll request all the staff we believe we need,’ she said…”

Texas doctors threaten to drop Medicaid out of fear of more fee cuts, By Robert T. Garrett, July 12, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Doctors in the Dallas area and across Texas are threatening to opt out of Medicaid because of payment cuts, which would further damage the state’s already uneven delivery of health care to the poor. The 1 percent trim to provider fees that starts Sept. 1 sounds modest. But doctors, insurance industry officials and health care experts widely see it as the first of many hits coming to doctors’ wallets as Texas’ fiscal woes deepen. State leaders’ instructions for agencies to identify additional 10 percent budget cuts in the next two-year budget cycle mean more fee cuts may come next summer. Experts say further reductions could drive off doctors, dump more patients on hospital emergency rooms and ensure a rocky start for the federal health care overhaul, which by conservative estimates could add 1.5 million Texans to Medicaid by 2015. The cut demonstrates a potentially recurring problem with budget cuts as state leaders contemplate a shortfall that could hit $18 billion: Cuts that lawmakers make now to programs that are already stretched thin could cause deeper long-term woes…”

• Texas hit with fine for food stamp errors, By Corrie MacLaggan, June 28, 2010, Austin American-Statesman: “Federal officials have fined Texas $3.96 million for errors in issuing food stamp benefits, according to a letter to House Speaker Joe Straus. The penalty is for a high rate of overpayments or underpayments two years in a row, said the letter from U.S. Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Kevin Concannon. Among the four states hit with penalties, Texas was fined the most. Also fined were Indiana ($1.2 million), Maryland ($742,238) and Iowa ($205,730), federal officials said. Texas plans to appeal, said Geoff Wool, a spokesman for the state Health and Human Services Commission. He said the commission learned of the fine on Friday. Wool said Texas’ appeal will focus on the fact that the number of food stamp recipients in Texas spiked after Hurricane Ike in 2008, increasing 26 percent in the year that followed…”
• U.S. fines Texas $4 million for botching food-stamp claims, By Robert t. Garrett, June 29, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Federal food stamp officials have fined Texas nearly $4 million for making too many errors in calculating people’s monthly benefits. U.S. Agriculture Undersecretary Kevin Concannon notified state officials late last week, offering to waive half of the $3.96 million fine if Texas would use the money to improve administration of the program. But Texas Health and Human Services Commission spokesman Geoff Wool said Monday that the state will appeal. A penalty is unfair because hurricanes and the recession overwhelmed the state workers who process food stamp requests, Wool said. Texas either overpaid or underpaid on food stamp benefits 6.9 percent of the time in fiscal 2009, according to the federal Food and Nutrition Service. In Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth, the most error-prone regions, the state miscalculated benefits more than 10 percent of the time. Among all states, only Indiana and Maryland performed more poorly. Both had payment error rates of just over 7.1 percent last year, while the national rate was 4.36 percent, ‘the lowest rate in the history of the program,’ the service proclaimed…”

• Reports cheer reform for uninsured Texans, By Cindy George, May 31, 2010, Houston Chronicle: “Two new reports herald the federal health system overhaul as a bargain for Texas, but one government agency warns the state could be left with a bigger bill than predicted. As many as 2 million currently uninsured Texans would gain Medicaid coverage largely at the federal government’s expense, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation interpretation. A Families USA analysis released Thursday declared that the overhaul will prevent insurance companies from denying coverage or charging higher premiums to nearly 4.3 million non-elderly Texans with diagnosed pre-existing health conditions…”
• Virginia leaders grapple with mushrooming Medicaid costs, By Julian Walker, June 1, 2010, Virginian-Pilot: “More than 750,000 low-income Virginians depend on it to stay healthy. It costs more than the state’s college system and prisons. And signs are that Virginia’s Medicaid program is only going to grow even more, thanks to the federal health care overhaul and other trends. Republicans, Democrats and health care industry leaders all agree that paying for the growth in Medicaid is a challenge. Over the years, Medicaid spending has markedly increased in Virginia. It was about 5 percent of the state general fund budget in 1985. Soon it will be nearly 20 percent, or about $3 billion, second only to public education spending…”
• R.I. lawmakers gambling budget on getting federal aid restored, By Steve Peoples, May 29, 2010, Providence Journal: “Rhode Island’s General Assembly is poised to approve a $7.8-billion budget package next week that avoids sales or income tax increases and saves arts and social welfare programs. But to do so, the legislature is depending on $100 million in federal aid that currently does not exist. The U.S. House of Representatives, wary of adding to the federal deficit with mid-term elections in sight, approved a jobs bill Friday that excludes a $24-billion Medicaid package for states. Rhode Island’s cut - $100 million - and funding for every other state may be lost. And less than 24 hours after a legislative panel endorsed a spending package that relies on the federal funding, state lawmakers have already begun lobbying the state’s congressional delegation to resurrect the federal aid…”

Texas boosts child care subsidies, By Robert T. Garrett, May 25, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “While some states curtail low-wage workers’ subsidies for child care, Texas has avoided cuts, the Texas Workforce Commission said Monday. An infusion of $215 million in federal stimulus money since July has helped the state offer more child-care assistance, while the slow economy has knocked people out of work and slackened demand for child care, said commission spokeswoman Lisa Givens. The waiting list for aid was at about 14,000 children last month, down from an average of 33,000 per month in fiscal 2008…”

More Texas youths placed in foster care, By Robert T. Garrett, May 13, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Texas’ foster care rolls have surged, outstripping expectations by more than 1,000 youngsters this year, Child Protective Services officials said Thursday. State child welfare authorities attributed the surge in part to strains on families caused by the recession. They also noted that CPS workers are more inclined to remove children from homes, after a rash of high-profile child deaths and as workers and state district judges got used to a federal appeals court’s 2008 edict tightening child-removal procedures in Texas…”

Weatherization program finally takes off, By Tracy Idell Hamilton, May 12, 2010, San Antonio Express-News: “Patricia Teran remembers the moment she realized just how well the new insulation in her home was working. ‘I went to let my dog out in the middle of the night, and when I opened the door, I realized it was really cold out there,’ she said. ‘It was nice and warm in my house, and my heater wasn’t even on.’ Teran, 62, is one of the first local beneficiaries of the Obama administration’s $5 billion weatherization program, which aims to help low-income residents to seal up their homes, lower bills and save energy. It also is supposed to create thousands of jobs in the nascent ‘green energy’ industry. The program, a centerpiece of the administration’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, has faced rising criticism as more than a year of bureaucratic delays saw only a fraction of homes completed and few jobs created. But in Texas, at least, the program finally is taking off…”

Children’s insurance program rebounds, but more cuts feared, By Robert T. Garrett, May 7, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Seven years ago, state leaders working to close a $9.9 billion budget gap took a hatchet to government health insurance for children of the working poor. Thousands of children paid the price when officials tightened eligibility rules and whacked dental, vision and mental health benefits. Gradually, benefits were restored to the Children’s Health Insurance Program and, this month, enrollment reached roughly the same level as in 2003. But CHIP proponents fear the program could be on the block again as lawmakers face an even bigger shortfall - maybe $15 billion - as they write the next two-year budget in their upcoming session. The new federal health care law has limited the state’s ability to cut too deeply into CHIP…”

• Job training urged for ex-convicts in New Orleans, By Katie Urbaszewski, April 29, 2010, New Orleans Times-Picayune: “The Home Builders Institute isn’t satisfied with just the 400 New Orleanians — some young adults in low-income families and some residents from Central City housing projects — they’ve trained to find jobs in the construction industry and now wants to create a similar career training program for those recently released from prison. That was the topic of the institute’s meeting with the Rebuilding a Better New Orleans advisory council Wednesday, their fifth meeting to hear community input as the life of the institute’s grant nears its last month and they search for new funding. Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the nation, 48 percent above the national average, said Roger Grissom, New Orleans program development manager of the Home Builders Institute. One out of every 55 Louisiana residents is behind bars, according to a study of 2007 U.S. Census data by the Pew Center for the States…”
• Is state jobs program luring employers?, By Laylan Copelin, April 26, 2010, Austin American-Statesman: “Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is crisscrossing the state to promote his plan that pays employers with state tax dollars to hire unemployed Texans. He touts it as a way for the state to save money by getting people off unemployment and jump-starting a Texas economy that many fear could be in a long, slow recovery. ‘We’ve got to grow this locomotive called the Texas economy,’ Dewhurst said in February as he kicked off the $15 million program. He already is talking about extending the nascent program during next year’s legislative session, and the Texas Workforce Commission is trying to persuade federal officials to give it $50 million in stimulus money to triple the program’s size. The program pays employers $2,000 for each unemployed person they hire and retain for at least four months. As of Friday, 682 Texans had been hired by 421 employers statewide. In many instances, however, employers say the state is paying them to do what they would be doing anyway: filling crucial vacancies, expanding only when business conditions warrant or, in the case of high-turnover industries such as call centers, filling their constant roster of openings…”

• College courses for high schoolers, By Melissa B. Taboada, April 28, 2010, Austin American-Statesman: “The Austin school district is trying to boost the academic performance and graduation and college-going rates of two struggling East Austin high schools by bringing college straight to the students. On Monday, trustees unanimously approved creating Early College High Schools at Reagan and LBJ. The free program would blend high school and college curricula and allow students to earn up to 60 hours of college credit as they work toward their high school diplomas. The idea is not new. Schools often target high-achieving or college-ready juniors and seniors to take dual credit courses and earn up to 30 hours of college credit…”
• Colorado high schoolers going forth with a state-paid fifth year, By Allison Sherry, April 14, 2010, Denver Post: “Almost 300 Colorado high school seniors are eligible for a state-paid year of college this fall - a policy garnering attention from the nation’s capital as a model to push poor kids to higher education. Colorado’s ‘fifth-year’ program allows seniors to elect to have high schools withhold their diplomas for a year so they can go to college on the state’s dime. State education leaders aren’t yet sure how many students will take advantage of the program, estimated to cost about $1.7 million this year. Participating students, who must have at least 12 college credits by the spring of their senior year to be eligible, can go to any public college in Colorado, as long as the high school sets it up. Previously, high schoolers could get some college credit through advanced courses, but the fifth-year program expands the opportunity to far more students…”

• Count of Dallas County homeless finds fewer living on the streets long-term, By Kim Horner, April 26, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Homelessness in Dallas County increased 1 percent - to 5,750 - during another year of difficult economic times, according to a new survey by the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance. But the annual count, conducted Jan. 28, showed major progress in the city’s efforts to combat long-term homelessness among those with mental illnesses and addictions. The number of people considered chronically homeless dropped 14 percent. And the number of families on the street also dropped. ‘We’re trying to end chronic homelessness, and we got that number to go down significantly this year,’ said Mike Rawlings, a businessman who serves as Dallas’ homeless czar. He attributed the success to new permanent supportive housing programs that provide apartments and services, such as mental health care…”
• Honolulu homeless move tents onto sidewalks in legal loophole, By Mary Vorsino, April 24, 2010, Honolulu Advertiser: “In the wake of a ban on tents in city parks that police started enforcing Monday, more homeless appear to be setting up camp on sidewalks - something the city says is legal as long as they don’t block pedestrian traffic. Yesterday, several advocates and urban Honolulu residents said they had noticed more people living in tents or makeshift shelters on sidewalks recently. But advocates also pointed out that the ban prompted a good number of people to move into homeless shelters or to get on waiting lists for shelters…”

Food bank workers are helping Texas ease its backlog of food stamp applications, By Robert T. Garrett, April 25, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Last year, food banks had to step up to help hundreds of families when the recession and a meltdown of Texas’ food stamp application process caused them to miss out on months’ worth of benefits. Now, food banks and pantries in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio are doing it again as the state works, under federal orders, to reduce backlogs and improve service at the offices where it determines if Texans are eligible for aid. The need is still evident. Hungry, desperate people are flocking daily to Metrocrest Social Services, a food pantry in Carrollton’s central business district…”

• Food stamp frustration is valid, state audit report says, By Corrie MacLaggan, March 30, 2010, Austin American-Statesman: “Applying for food stamps in Texas can be quite a chore, according to a new state auditor’s report. Need to ask a basic question? Forget the phone. Workers often don’t have time to answer questions by phone and their voice mailboxes tend to be full, the report says. Instead, applicants ‘make unnecessary trips to a local office, in which they sometimes sit for hours just to ask a question or submit a document,’ says the report released Tuesday by State Auditor John Keel. ‘Crowded lobbies, long waits, and delays in eligibility determinations clearly resulted in frustrated clients,’ the report said. The report describes an inefficient system in which 80 percent of cases are kept on paper and a lack of experienced workers is contributing to problems processing applications accurately and within the 30 days required by the federal government. It recommends using technology such as automated kiosks and allowing applicants to check the status of cases online, an option the state now makes available only to certain applicants…”
• State auditor questions social services agency’s no-bid deal with ex-colleague to fix welfare problems, By Robert T. Garrett, March 31, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “State Auditor John Keel has questioned why state social services officials awarded work to a former colleague without seeking other bids, when his offer to curtail processing errors is good for only one-fifth of Texas’ 3.3 million food-stamp recipients. Keel also chided Health and Human Services Commission officials for seeking help last summer from former deputy commissioner Gregg Phillips’ company, though they ignored for nearly two years a similar offer by a Plano firm already on contract. Earlier this month, The Dallas Morning News reported that Phillips, who played a major role in the state’s botched privatization of eligibility screening for assistance programs, is making money trying to help Texas fix the problems that resulted…”
• Human Services to lay off 228 workers, By Mary Vorsino, March 30, 2010, Honolulu Advertiser: “The state Department of Human Services will lay off nearly half of its 517 workers who process applications for government benefits and will shut down 31 eligibility offices statewide under a cost-cutting plan set to go into effect June 30. The plan, which has been strongly opposed by advocates for the poor and several lawmakers, is expected to save about $8 million and DHS officials say it will actually speed up wait times by allowing people to apply on-line and over the phone, congregating workers in two main offices and streamlining workloads. The plan comes at a time when DHS is seeing increases in requests for Medicaid, cash assistance, food stamps and child care subsidies as families struggle to make ends meet. The increase in applications has meant significantly longer backlogs in processing requests for help…”
• Disputed welfare practices don’t hold up in court, By Jon Murray, March 31, 2010, Indianapolis Star: “When Gov. Mitch Daniels pulled the plug in October on a privatization contract that was the cornerstone of an aggressive welfare services modernization plan, he said it simply didn’t work. But the arrangement’s inefficiency, lost paperwork and wrongly denied benefits weren’t the only problems. A judge has ruled that parts of the modernization push also violated the law. Two recent rulings from a Marion County judge and a third from Clay County delivered a new slap to the state’s welfare services agency over several practices, including the handling of denials for some benefits and appeals for others. The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration is forging ahead by testing a new ‘hybrid’ plan in some places. In the meantime, dozens of counties still operate with vestiges of the aborted modernization attempt — and with one of the two disputed practices…”

Texas slow to spend stimulus money on weatherizing homes of poor, elderly, By Randy Lee Loftis, March 31, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Winter has passed, but the state’s pace of spending federal stimulus money to weatherize poor Texans’ homes is just starting to heat up. Under the 2009 federal stimulus bill, Texas received $327 million from the Department of Energy to help armor 33,908 homes of low-income or elderly people against the cold and heat. Texas must spend the money by March 2012 or lose it. A review in December found that in the first four months, the state had spent only $1.8 million and completed work on just seven homes. At a state House committee hearing Tuesday at Dallas City Hall, Texas officials presented numbers showing progress. Work has been finished on an estimated 2,450 homes or apartments and planning has been started on 2,200 more. About $13 million has been spent…”

• Health-care plan to cost state $7B a year unless lawmakers restore cuts, By Howard Fischer, March 23, 2010, Arizona Daily Star: “The new federal health-care plan could cost Arizona $7 billion a year if lawmakers here don’t restore the cuts they made to health-care programs, critics say. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, said the scheduled elimination of KidsCare on June 15 would put the state at odds with a provision in the new federal program requiring states to maintain their programs as they are when President Obama signs the bill. She said the threat isn’t simply losing the $3 of federal money for each dollar of state funds for the program that provides nearly free care for the children of the working poor…”
• Repeal of children’s program puts Arizona’s Medicaid funding at risk under health overhaul, By Paul Davenport (AP), March 22, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “A controversial decision by Arizona lawmakers to eliminate a health insurance program for poor children puts it at risk of losing billions of dollars in federal Medicaid funding under the historic health care bill approved by Congress. Arizona last week became the first state to eliminate its Children’s Health Insurance Program, removing an estimated 38,000 kids from the rolls starting in June in a budget-cutting move by Gov. Jan Brewer and the Republican-led Legislature…”
• Health care bill would bring higher state Medicaid costs, By Cy Ryan, March 22, 2010, Las Vegas Sun: “The health bill passed by the House of Representatives Sunday would cost Nevada taxpayers an extra $613 million from 2014-2019, to provide health care to the needy. According to early state estimates, the bill would make an additional 70,000 residents eligible for Medicaid. The state would be mandated to cover another 8,000 individuals who are now eligible but have not applied to be covered by the state health insurance program for the poor. About 209,000 Nevadans are currently covered by Medicaid…”
• Adding to Medicaid rolls won’t be easy, Texas officials say, By Corrie MacLaggan and Tim Eaton, March 22, 2010, Austin American Statesman: “As Texas considers how to add 2 million people to Medicaid and CHIP over 10 years as part of the federal health care legislation heading to President Barack Obama, state health officials say that won’t be easy. The same enrollment system that is already struggling to enroll Texans in food stamps as quickly as the federal government requires would need to be ramped up soon to prepare for additions to Medicaid and CHIP that would start in 2014. Health reform is a ‘hurricane heading our way in terms of what it would do’ to the enrollment system, said Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services Commission…”

Number of minimum-wage earners in Texas surges, By Scott Nishimura, March 11, 2010, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “The number of Texans earning minimum wage surged in 2009, after the wage increased to $7.25 from $6.55, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday. Last year, 474,000 Texans earned minimum wage or below, up 200,000 over the year, the bureau said. Those workers accounted for 8.5 percent of hourly wage earners in Texas…”

Almost 25% of children in Bexar live in poverty, By Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje, February 13, 2010, San Antonio Express-News: “Almost a quarter of the children in Bexar County lived in poverty and lacked health insurance in 2008, according to a new study on poverty in Texas. And while the numbers dropped slightly compared with a similar study the year before, this still means roughly one in four children struggled with the byproducts of poverty: poor school performance, health woes, hunger and circumscribed futures. ‘Decades of belt-tightening have left us with more poor, uninsured and hungry children than almost every other state,’ said Frances Deviney, director of Texas KIDS COUNT. A poor economy in 2009 means the dismal outlook likely stretched to even more children, Deviney added…”

• House may take Medicaid funds to help with budget, By Deborah Yetter, February 9, 2010, Louisville Courier-Journal: “House leaders are proposing a daring budget maneuver that would strip $227 million in General Fund money from the state’s Medicaid program for the next budget year in hopes that the federal government will approve additional stimulus funds for the program starting in 2011. The federal stimulus money, which has helped keep Kentucky’s $5.4 billion plan in the black, expires Dec. 31, the midpoint of the budget year. Advocates Tuesday were stunned to learn that the House is considering taking state money from Medicaid - with no guarantee Congress will provide extra money for the health plan, which covers the poor and disabled…”
• Medicaid fees may be trimmed to help balance Texas budget, By Robert T. Garrett, February 10, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Doctors, dentists and hospitals would have their Medicaid fees trimmed by at least 1 percent under possible budget reductions offered today by state Health and Human Services Commissioner Tom Suehs. When treating adults, the caregivers would take a 2 percent hit, as would nursing homes, group homes for the mentally disabled and NorthSTAR, which provides mental-health services to some 400,000 low-income residents of Dallas and six nearby counties…”
• Medicaid cuts may affect care in Oklahoma, By Julie Bisbee, February 12, 2010, The Oklahoman: “Budget cuts at the agency that administers the state’s Medicaid program could make it more difficult for patients to get the medical care they need, members of the state’s medical association said Thursday.Cuts to Medicaid reimbursements approved by the Oklahoma Health Care Authority on Thursday will mean doctors get paid less for providing care to people enrolled in SoonerCare. Doctors that provide care to SoonerCare patients will see their reimbursement rates cut by 6.75 percent beginning April 1. Nearly 700,000 people are enrolled in the SoonerCare health care program each month. More than half of those enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program are children…”
• Prenatal care restored for some women in Nebraska, By Mark Andersen, February 10, 2010, Lincoln Journal Star: “Some pregnant legal residents should ignore a recent notice saying Nebraska Medicaid will not cover their prenatal care. New letters going out soon will say that, in fact, Medicaid will cover their care, state Medicaid Director Vivianne Chaumont said Wednesday. Not all pregnant women who got the first notice will get the second one restoring coverage. Notably, no second notices will be delivered to undocumented women, whose coverage of prenatal care will be ending. The issue relates to state efforts to comply with federal guidelines about when an unborn child can be counted in determining Medicaid eligibility…”

• U.S. food stamp official: State could be aiding more Texans, By Corrie MacLaggan, January 12, 2010, Austin American-Statesman: “Texas could be providing food stamps to 650,000 more people and could increase the amount of federal money it receives for the program each year from $4 billion to $5 billion if the state increased its participation rate to the national average, according to President Barack Obama’s top food stamp official. But Texas officials, who are struggling with a strained application system, say increasing participation is not their goal…”
• Official: Food-stamp application flubs hurt hungry Texas families, By Robert T. Garrett, January 13, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Texas’ botched experiment with privatization of welfare application screening has caused “a five-year slide” in how fast and accurately the state handles food stamp applications, the federal government’s top food and nutrition official says. Now, the problems are punishing middle-class Texans who’ve recently lost jobs and are seeking government help - many, for the first time, says U.S. Agriculture Undersecretary Kevin Concannon…”
• Official: Texas has worst-ranked food stamp program, By Gary Scharrer, January 12, 2010, Houston Chronicle: “Texas has the worst performing food stamp program in the nation, the federal director for food assistance told state officials here Tuesday. It ranks last among the 50 states and U.S. territories in processing food stamp applications and also does a poor job getting eligible low-income people to apply, said Kevin Concannon, a U.S. Department of Agriculture undersecretary, in an earlier meeting with reporters. And because Texas does not even come close to the national average in enrolling those eligible, grocery retailers like H-E-B and Randalls are missing out on nearly $1 billion a year in food sales, he said…”

• Schools see more minority, poor kids, By Gary Scharrer and Ericka Mellon, January 2, 2010, San Antonio Express-News: “Almost six in 10 Texas public schoolchildren are from low-income families, marking a troubling spike in poverty over the past decade, a state report shows. The increase coincides with a significant jump in the number of Hispanic students, while fewer Anglo students were enrolled last year than 10 years ago, according to the study by the Texas Education Agency…”
• How school districts help families with less, By Kerry Lester, December 22, 2009, Daily Herald: “Melissa Buenik knows that if students are hungry, it’s much harder for them to learn. So, the Mundelein High School social worker helps teachers identify teens who might not be getting enough to eat at home. ‘We look for observable behavior in class. Agitation, sleepiness, little things like that,’ she said. ‘Once we ask, kids are pretty quick to respond and tell us, ‘Yeah, my family is having financial trouble right now…’”
• High numbers of Shasta County school kids living in poverty, By Amanda Winters, December 20, 2009, Redding Record Searchlight: “Recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows a high rate of school-aged children living in poverty in Shasta County and school officials aren’t surprised. ‘There’s not a lot of employment here,’ said Merle Stolz, superintendent of Indian Springs School District, where the Census Bureau estimates 31 percent of children live in poverty. Stolz said the Big Bend school’s participation in the free and reduced-price lunch program is near 100 percent. During the 2008-2009 school year, 11 of the school’s 14 students were enrolled in the program…”
• Students cope with poverty, By Iricka Berlinger, December 21, 2009, Tallahassee Democrat: “Brittany White is angry. She is angry that she has to live at HOPE Community, a six-month transitional housing program for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, where she shares a tiny, cramped room with her mother and younger sister, Yolanda. She is angry at her mom that they can’t afford new clothes - or anything new for that matter. She is angry because she doesn’t like feeling different from her classmates…”

• Need for heat aid in Minnesota higher this year, By Maria Elena Baca, December 21, 2009, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “This winter, Art Swanson is thankful to be part of a group he’d just as soon have avoided. The Anoka County resident represents the newest trend among the more than 125,000 Minnesotans who have applied for federal heating assistance since Oct. 1 (the start of the fiscal year): At 50, he’s a first-time customer. He was laid off in January from his job as a union glazier, installing windows and doors mostly in new commercial buildings, and work this year has been inconsistent at best. Statewide, the number of applicants to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is up 8 percent from this time last year, and 19.5 percent from December 2007. Administrators point to a growing number of families dealing with unemployment or underemployment for the first time…”
• Texas agency slow to spend stimulus funds to weatherize homes, By James Drew, December 20, 2009, Dallas Morning News: “The state received millions of federal dollars from the economic-stimulus package to help poor Texans cut their energy bills, but by the end of last month, just seven homes had been weather-treated under the program. The state has spent $1.8 million of $163 million available over the past four months, with most of it going to administrative costs, such as the salaries of state workers. The weatherization program was a key element of the federal effort to revive the economy, billed as a quick way to create jobs, save energy and cut utility bills. In Texas, the task has been heaped onto a midsized agency that must figure how to hand out millions more in federal funds to local agencies and governments, but do it carefully enough to avoid wasting money…”

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…”