In Case You Missed It… | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

off the charts

POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS

This week at CBPP, we focused on health care, Social Security, poverty and inequality, food assistance, family income support, and the economy.

On health care, Judy Solomon highlighted a state-commissioned evaluation finding that Indiana’s Medicaid waiver hasn’t worked as the state intended in key respects, and warned that a similar proposal from Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin would almost certainly erode the state’s progress in insuring more residents. She also explained that the actual cost of covering adults newly eligible for coverage under health reform’s Medicaid expansion is likely lower than a recent estimate from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Actuary. Shelby Gonzales and Jodi Kwarciany detailed outreach strategies for enrolling children in health coverage in schools.
On Social Security, Kathleen Romig marked the 60^th anniversary of Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) by listing six key facts about the program. Kathy Ruffing and Paul Van de Water updated their report showing that Social Security benefits are modest, so policymakers have limited room to reduce benefits without causing hardship. We also updated our backgrounder on DI.
On poverty and inequality, Isaac Shapiro introduced our new state-by-state fact sheets on the safety net’s impact, showing that government programs reduce poverty and increase children’s health coverage.
On food assistance, Dottie Rosenbaum pointed to the widespread decline in SNAP (formerly food stamp) caseloads, which reflects an improving economy and the return of a three-month time limit for unemployed childless adults in many states. We updated our advocate’s guide to promoting community eligibility, which allows school districts to offer meals at no charge to all students in high-poverty schools.
On family income support, we updated our chart book on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
On the economy, we updated our backgrounder on how many weeks of unemployment compensation are available in each state.

Chart of the Week: Most Elderly Beneficiaries Rely on Social Security for the Majority of Their Income

A variety of news outlets featured CBPP’s work and experts recently. Here are some highlights:

Louisiana Shows Medicaid Expansion’s Powerful Impact in South
Real Clear Health
August 4, 2016

The ‘death tax’ will soon be tougher to dodge
Washington Post
August 2, 2016

Safety net said to keep 1.4 million Georgians above poverty line
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
August 3, 2016

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