- State’s poor pose intricate challenge, By Kevin Yamamura, February 14, 2011, Sacramento Bee: “As Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed slashing government aid for poor people, he argues that California still provides more generous benefits than many other states. His budget, chock full of comparisons, notes that ‘Texas and Illinois have a hard limit of three prescriptions per month” and “South Dakota charges 5 percent of costs up to $50 for emergency room visits.’ It’s all relative, he says. ‘If you compare (the safety net) to other states, we’re still doing reasonably well,’ Brown said last month when he released his budget. ‘If you compare us to some European states, we’re not doing so well at all. So it depends upon what your yardstick is.’ A Sacramento Bee review of several national yardsticks found that while California has a high share of people receiving low-income aid, the benefits they receive are not necessarily more generous than those provided in other states…”
- Lawsuit seen as likely if Medicaid is cut, By Nolan Hicks, February 13, 2011, San Antonio Express-News: “If proposed cutbacks to Medicaid reimbursement rates for doctors and dentists are enacted by the Legislature, the state risks another lawsuit over the level of health care Texas provides to poor children, health and human services officials warn. The cuts, which were suggested in the Texas House’s initial budget proposal, would reduce the rate Medicaid pays doctors and dentists by at least 10 percent. Slashing spending on social programs such as Medicaid is an important element of Republican efforts to balance the budget without increasing taxes…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty