- Indiana’s brand of Medicaid drops 25,000 people for failure to pay premiums, By Phil Galewitz, February 1, 2018, National Public Radio: “As the Trump administration moves to give states more flexibility in running Medicaid, advocates for the poor are keeping a close eye on Indiana to see whether such conservative ideas improve or harm care. Indiana in 2015 implemented some of the most radical changes seen to the state-federal program that covers nearly 1 in 4 low-income Americans — including charging some adults a monthly premium and locking out for six months some of those who don’t pay their premiums…”
- Indiana wins federal permission to adopt Medicaid work requirements, By Amy Goldstein, February 2, 2018, Washington Post: “Indiana has become the second state to win permission from the Trump administration to require certain low-income residents on Medicaid to work, study or perform public service to qualify for the safety-net health insurance…”
- Are Bevin’s new Medicaid rules ‘all about putting up roadblocks’ for poor people?, By John Cheves, February 2, 2018, Lexington Herald-Leader: “Ronnie Stewart spent years as a state social worker. Given his experience in government bureaucracy, Sewart said he understands why Gov. Matt Bevin is going to make many of Kentucky’s Medicaid recipients pay monthly premiums and regularly report their work and income status…”
Day: February 2, 2018
Racial Achievement Gap
How a popular college-prep program is narrowing achievement gap for black, Latino students, By Beau Yarbrough, February 2, 2018, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin: “Minority students lag behind white students in college graduation rates. But the AVID program, common in Southern California schools, helps narrow the achievement gap, according to a new report. The news comes even as schools are starting to expand who’s offered a spot in the program…”
Homelessness in Los Angeles, CA
L.A.’s homelessness surged 75% in six years. Here’s why the crisis has been decades in the making, By Gale Holland, February 1, 2018, Los Angeles Times: “Some of the poorest people in the city spend their days in the shadow of Los Angeles City Hall, napping on flattened cardboard boxes. On any given day, as many as 20 people take to the City Hall lawn, across the street from LAPD headquarters. They’re there to ‘escape the madness’ in downtown streets, a 53-year-old homeless man named Lazarus said last week. At night, they fan out to doorways or deserted plazas to wait for daybreak. The growth of a homeless day camp at the halls of civic power speaks to the breadth of Los Angeles’ burgeoning homelessness problem…”