- Missouri House approves budget, no money for Medicaid expansion, By Elizabeth Crisp, March 29, 2013, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “The Missouri House approved a nearly $25 billion state spending plan Thursday that calls for slight increases in education funding and modest raises for most state employees in the coming year, but it doesn’t include expansion of the state’s Medicaid rolls. Gov. Jay Nixon and other Democrats, as well as health care and business groups, have spent several months pushing for a federal Affordable Care Act-driven expansion of the health care program for the poor. But the Republican-controlled House blocked multiple attempts this week to add the more than $900 million in federal dollars to the state budget proposal and expand eligibility to an estimated 300,000 Missourians…”
- Pence administration claims authority to negotiate Medicaid deal with feds, By Eric Bradner, March 27, 2013, Evansville Courier and Press: “Indiana lawmakers don’t need to approve legislation related to a Medicaid expansion because Gov. Mike Pence already has authority to negotiate with federal officials, his administration’s top human services official said Wednesday. That was the assessment of Debra Minott, secretary of the Family and Social Services Administration, as she fielded questions from the House Public Health Committee. The panel has been working on a bill that would set parameters for an expansion of Medicaid through the federal health care law. If the state opts to go forward with an expansion, around 400,000 more Hoosiers would qualify for government-funded health insurance. But the state would only do so using the health savings account-based Healthy Indiana Plan as a vehicle, Pence has said…”
- Business groups optimistic about TennCare deal, By Chas Sisk and Getahn Ward, March 29, 2013, The Tennessean: “Health care and business groups are putting their faith in Gov. Bill Haslam’s ability to hammer out a deal on TennCare. But there are no signs of a master strategy that could bring that bargain about or drive it through the legislature. After months of doom-saying, health care and business groups have held their tongues following Wednesday’s momentous announcement that the state would not start offering TennCare, the state’s Medicaid program, to 180,000 more uninsured Tennesseans. The decision appeared to put the state on track to miss out on more than $400 million in federal funding in the first half of 2014 to pay for expansion and more than $1 billion a year after that…”
Month: March 2013
Public Benefit Reforms in the UK
- Benefits changes: Warnings as crisis loans scrapped, By Alex Campbell, March 29, 2013, BBC News: “A national scheme to aid vulnerable people in financial trouble is ending just as demand for such help is expected to surge, campaigners warn. Community care grants and crisis loans paid through job centres, as part of the social fund, will end on Monday. Instead, councils in England and the Scottish and Welsh governments are being given funding to provide alternatives. Critics warn demand will rise as the government’s welfare changes kick in. And, they fear, the changes means help for tens of thousands of people will be a “postcode lottery”, meaning the level of aid they get will be dependent on where they live…”
- Food vouchers to provide emergency help but prevent spending on alcohol, By Patrick Butler, March 26, 2013, The Guardian: “‘Food stamps’ arrive in Britain next month, when tens of thousands of vulnerable people will be issued with food vouchers in lieu of money to tide them over short-term financial crises. Rather than, as now, offering a cash loan, most councils will from April offer new applicants who qualify for emergency assistance a one-off voucher redeemable for goods such as food and nappies. Many of the 150 local authorities in England running welfare schemes have confirmed that they will issue the vouchers in the form of payment cards, which will be blocked or monitored to prevent the holder using them for alcohol, cigarettes or gambling. Several plan to issue charity food parcels to people applying for crisis help, and are preparing to give cash grants to food banks to enable them to take on full-time staff and increase opening hours. Each authority has drawn up eligibility rules, setting out who will qualify for crisis help and the conditions under which it will be given. One plans to make emergency help conditional on good behaviour…”
USDA Rural Poverty Initiative
USDA grows rural poverty effort, Associated Press, March 26, 2013, Washington Post: “A federal program intended to reduce poverty and improve life in rural areas through better access to federal funding is expanding to six more states, officials said Tuesday. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack traveled to South Carolina to announce the expansion of the so-called StrikeForce initiative, which already operates in 10 states. The program will now also be available in the Carolinas, the Dakotas, Alabama and Virginia. The goal of StrikeForce is to help farmers, food producers and other businesses get access to money for projects such as new wells, greenhouses, community gardens, kitchen space and summer meals for low-income school children. The money is often hard to access because of complicated grant applications, requirements for matching funds and limited staffing…”