- Health care squeeze forcing some Mississippi kids out, By Molly Parker, November 30, 2010, Jackson Clarion-Ledger: “Parents across Mississippi say they are frustrated with state Medicaid officials as programs are downsized and benefits canceled. ‘People are really being turned down right and left right now and it’s frightening,’ said Eric Weber, an assistant professor in the Public Policy Leadership Department at the University of Mississippi and the parent of a disabled child. ‘People who were getting covered last year are not getting covered this year.’ Gov. Haley Barbour’s tough financial stand toward Medicaid speaks volumes about the legacy he may leave when his term expires in January 2012…”
- Medicaid spending ups state budget, By Mike Dennison, November 26, 2010, Billings Gazette: “Year after year, the big kahuna in state spending is human services – and Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s proposed budget makes no exception here, with substantial increases in Medicaid, the state-federal program that pays medical bills for the poor. The governor also proposes full extension of funding for the Healthy Montana Kids program, with its goal of expanding government-funded health insurance to another 15,000 to 20,000 children in low- and middle-income families. These and many other programs all add up to a proposed $3.7 billion in spending (including federal funds) on public health and human-service programs for the next two years, or more than 40 percent of the entire state-authorized budget…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty