- Despite health challenges, Southern states resist Medicaid expansion, By Tony Pugh, April 11, 2013, Miami Herald: “Michael White’s high blood pressure is acting up again. The 51-year-old casino janitor has recurring seizures and recently awoke in an ambulance after passing out at a bus stop. ‘It doesn’t hit me suddenly,’ White said. ‘It creeps up on me. I get this feeling like I’m outside of my own body.’ If White had insurance, he’d be under the care of a primary physician and taking medications regularly. But he can’t afford job-based health insurance on his $8-an-hour wage and he earns too much to qualify for Medicaid, the state-federal health plan for poor people and those with disabilities…”
- Battle lines solidify in Medicaid debate, By Joe Hallett and Catherine Candisky, April 12, 2013, Columbus Dispatch: “In a historic rebuke, Gov. John Kasich got rolled by his own party this week, victimized by a tea party-inspired evisceration of his plan to expand Medicaid coverage despite his passionate pleas that the lives of Ohio’s neediest residents hang in the balance. By saying no to broadening Medicaid’s reach, House Republicans turned against groups that historically have been their political allies and campaign contributors, including the Ohio Hospital Association, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, Ohio Right to Life, major health insurers and other influential groups supporting the expansion. Instead, House Republicans stripped Kasich’s two-year budget of Medicaid services for 275,000 more Ohio adults without health-care coverage, which were to be paid for by $13 billion in federal aid over seven years. That would have saved state taxpayers $400 million over the next two years. Longtime Statehouse observers said they can’t remember anything like it…”
- House Medicaid alternative would subsidize far fewer poor Floridians than expansion plan, By Tia Mitchell, April 11, 2013, Miami Herald: “House Republicans offered a bare-bones alternative to expanding Medicaid on Thursday, bypassing more than $50 billion in federal aid while setting up a clash with Gov. Rick Scott and the more moderate Senate. The House’s plan would cover up to 130,000 disabled adults and adults with children, far less than the estimated 1 million Floridians who could be covered by federal money. The plan would offer enrollees $2,000 a year in state assistance to help them purchase insurance on a state-run health exchange. It would cost the state as much as $266 million annually. In a statement Thursday, Scott all but rejected the approach…”
- Gov. Brewer rallies Medicaid allies, By Bob Christie (AP), April 12, 2013, Arizona Republic: “Gov. Jan Brewer held the latest in a series of rallies at the Capitol on Thursday to show she has broad support for her proposal to expand Medicaid to about 300,000 more poor Arizonans. And her efforts may be paying off. A growing number of lawmakers in both parties believe the Legislature will pass Brewer’s expansion. That’s a change from earlier this year, when the main voices heard in the debate were those of conservative Republicans opposed to the expansion, a signature part of President Barack Obama’s heath care overhaul law…”
- Montana GOP working on alternative to Medicaid expansion, By Charles S. Johnson, April 12, 2013, Missoulian: “Some legislative Republicans and others are scrambling to come up with an alternative to Medicaid expansion, instead using public funds to help uninsured, low-income Montanans buy private health insurance. Yet with just 14 working days remaining until the Legislature is scheduled to adjourn, those working on the proposals say time is getting short…”
Day: April 12, 2013
Low-wage Work in the US
- Number of Staten Islanders in low-wage jobs spikes to 27.4 percent, study shows, By Judy L. Randall, April 11, 2013, Staten Island Advance: “More than one-quarter of employed Staten Island adults are working in low-wage jobs, a new report revealed Thursday, citing economics and education as factors. But even though that represents nearly a five percent jump from just five years ago, the Island has the second-lowest share of adult workers in low-wage jobs of all the boroughs — 27.4 percent in 2012 — according to the Center for an Urban Future, which published the report. Citywide, more than one-third of employed adults work in low-wage jobs…”
- Who makes up the ‘working poor’ in America?, By Sudeep Reddy, April 11, 2013, Wall Street Journal: “Roughly 46 million people in the U.S., or 15% of the population, lived below the official poverty line in 2011 ($11,484 for an individual or $23,021 for a family of four per year). About 10.4 million of them are considered part of the “working poor.” That means they spent at least half the year in the labor force (working or looking for work), but they still fell below the poverty level. Who falls into the group? The Bureau of Labor Statistics breaks it down in a new report…”
Section 8 Housing Subsidies
Federal rent subsidies vanish for many low-income Minnesotans, By Randy Furst, April 12, 2013, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Corinne Lewis, who is disabled and lives in a rental unit in need of repairs, was on a waiting list for six years to get a rental subsidy under a federal housing program. In February, the Woodbury woman was elated to learn that she, her disabled daughter and a granddaughter finally would receive the subsidy under the Section 8 program. She began hunting for an apartment. Then, last month, Lewis got a second letter from the Metropolitan Council’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority. The agency told her the subsidy was on hold because of a reduction in federal funding due to sequestration — the automatic budget cuts that went into effect starting last month…”