As budget cuts loom, aid agencies fear worst, By David Abel, December 16, 2010, Boston Globe: “Having been hit hard in recent years, as budget cuts have taken a steady toll and demands for their services have spiked, the state’s social service providers now worry that the worst is yet to come. The Patrick administration announced this week that it intends to cut as much as $1.5 billion from next year’s budget, potentially eviscerating social services statewide. The cuts have loomed for months as political leaders and economists warned of a shortfall for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. With Patrick and state lawmakers saying they need to make between $1 billion to $2 billion in reductions and with federal stimulus money exhausted, the reality of an even worse year is sinking in. Providers are pleading for the governor to spare them…”
Day: December 16, 2010
Spending Cuts and Child Poverty – UK
Spending cuts ‘will see rise in absolute child poverty’, By Randeep Ramesh, December 16, 2010, The Guardian: “The government’s radical programme to slash spending will see the first rise in absolute child poverty for 15 years, with almost 200,000 children pushed into penury, according to an analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies. Tax changes introduced by the coalition government will, the leading independent fiscal thinktank finds, increase absolute poverty by 200,000 children and 200,000 working-age adults in 2012-13. Cuts to housing benefit alone will force a further 100,000 children into poverty. In the next three years the IFS says average incomes are forecast to stagnate and this, coupled with deep cuts in welfare, will see a rise in relative poverty for children and working-age adults of 800,000 and a rise in absolute poverty for the same group of 900,000. The institute directly challenges the government’s claim that the impact of the budget would have no effect on child poverty…”
Medicaid Expansion – Minnesota
Medicaid addition will help more Minnesota poor, By Warren Wolfe, December 15, 2010, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Minnesota can add 95,000 low-income adults to its Medicaid rolls, vastly improving their medical care, at no additional cost to the state, two officials at the state Department of Human Services told legislators Tuesday. That’s because the federal government would pick up roughly half the cost of their care under Medicaid, while thousands of them now use skimpier programs funded by the state. The testimony contradicts assertions by Gov. Tim Pawlenty that moving those patients into the state-federal Medicaid program — allowed under the new federal health care law — would cost Minnesota $431 million over the next three years. Pawlenty cited the cost last spring in opposing the shift…”