Food stamp use, poverty rates sharply rise among N.J. children during recession, By Megan DeMarco and Salvador Rizzo, March 23, 2011, Star-Ledger: “The Great Recession pushed thousands of New Jerseyans below the federal poverty level in 2009, causing the state’s rate to spike to the highest it’s been since at least 2002, a report released Tuesday finds. The recession also took its toll on the state’s youngest residents, according to a separate report to be released today by the nonprofit Advocates for Children of New Jersey. Close to one-third of the state’s 2 million children were living in low-income families, more youths were out of both school and work, and slightly more children were abused or neglected, the group found. In 2009, 9.4 percent of the state’s residents lived in poverty, compared with the national average of 14.3 percent. New Jersey’s rate has not risen above 8.7 percent since 2002, the first year it was calculated under the formula now used…”
Report: 1.1 million in N.J. live on the edge of poverty, By Michael Symons, March 22, 2011, Asbury Park Press: “Nearly 800,000 state residents were living in poverty in 2009, with another 1.1 million New Jerseyans in households with incomes above the poverty line but low enough to be considered poor, according to a report released Tuesday. Though New Jersey is the nation’s second wealthiest state, nearly a quarter of its residents had household incomes in 2009 that were less than twice the poverty threshold, which advocates for the poor say is still not enough for someone to achieve self-sufficiency in a high-cost state such as New Jersey. Job losses and stagnant wages resulting from the recession that began at the end of 2007 appear to have taken a toll on the middle class, according to the annual report from Legal Services of New Jersey’s Poverty Research Institute…”
Study finds record poverty levels for Cumberland County, Bridgeton, By Greg Adomaitis, News of Cumberland County: “Cumberland County had 7.2 percent of its residents living in severe poverty – the highest in the state. Bridgeton had 15.4 percent of its 25,349 residents living in ‘severe poverty’ – second only to Camden. Meanwhile, New Jersey had the second highest median household income in the country – $64,918. A study released Tuesday found this, and many more sobering statistics, within the 165 page document. The study, ‘Poverty Benchmarks 2011. Assessing New Jersey’s Progress in Combating Poverty’, was done by Legal Services of New Jersey Poverty Research Institute…”
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…”
