Nearly a trillion dollars in cuts ($990 billion) to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which were included in the Trump tax and spending law, will cause millions of people to lose their health coverage. Many of those cuts will come as a result of stricter verification and work reporting requirements, which will create an administrative nightmare for states. A new report from the Georgetown Center for Children and Families examines whether states are ready to implement the new harmful federal law:
State systems are unprepared for federal demands to implement a Medicaid work reporting requirement and other onerous changes. HR 1 (P.L. 119-21) requires states to implement complex work reporting and renewal policies just months after the Medicaid unwinding strained state eligibility systems. Warning signs – including long call center wait times, low rates of “ex parte” (automated) renewals, and long processing times for new applications – point to risks of widespread, avoidable coverage losses. … More than half of states (29) have red flags for at least half of the eight metrics examined.
Louisiana scored poorly on four of eight metrics that were used to gauge states’ readiness to implement the sprawling legislation.
TANF dollars should go where they’re needed most
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant provides states with federal dollars that are supposed to be used, in large part, to provide basic cash assistance for low-income families with children. But far too often states funnel these dollars to other areas that have no relation to the program’s intended purpose. The Washington Center for Equitable Growth’s Megan E. Rivera, writing in Governing, explains:
(C)onsider states like Louisiana and Nebraska, where millions of TANF dollars were allocated to fund “crisis pregnancy centers” that do not target services by income. Such facilities are typically staffed by volunteers without medical training and offer support to pregnant women to dissuade them from abortion. Since 2017, these centers have received over $100 million from federal TANF funds intended to support the lowest-income families.
There are clear benefits from providing direct cash assistance to low-income families:
Evidence shows that investments in children lead to increased performance in school, reduced involvement in the criminal justice system, and higher earnings and tax revenue over time. Researchers estimate that the return on investment for programs that support the development of young children could be $15 or higher for every dollar spent. And providing cash directly to families can be much cheaper to administer when uncoupled from the strict work reporting requirements TANF programs have implemented. Research shows that when you provide money to low-income families, they spend the bulk of it on food, school supplies, and child and medical care.
Culture of fear on Southern campuses
Many faculty members at Southern colleges and universities are considering leaving the region due to political influence. That’s according to a new survey from the American Association of University Professors. The Louisiana Illuminator’s Piper Hutchinson reports on the fear that’s gripping professors:
Professors also reported they fear teaching about climate change, feminism and other topics extreme conservatives have put in their crosshairs when attacking universities they consider “too woke.” There is a “fear of talking openly about academic findings that may contradict political ideology,” one associate professor in Georgia said in their survey response. … The survey also found that 17% of faculty have had their syllabi or curriculum choices questioned by university administrators. Another 10% said their grants or federal contracts were ended by the Trump administration.
More than 29% of Louisiana professors said they are considering leaving their jobs.
Federal cuts disrupt local justice programs
Last April, the Department of Justice nixed hundreds of grants for criminal-justice nonprofits and other organizations that try to reduce crime and violence. Sophia Nabours and Geoff Hing of the Marshall Project explain how these cuts have affected organizations in Louisiana, such as the The BRidge Agency:
[Nicole] Scott’s nonprofit had built its plan for the year around that money — $250,000 to hire youth mentors, pay stipends to kids in its summer leadership academies, even send a few to Louisiana’s state capitol, to see what political futures might look like for kids who have grown up stuck in a cycle of violence. Now, with 80% of its funding slashed, there was nothing left but volunteers, prayer and exhaustion in a state that incarcerates youth at double the national average.
Number of the Day
22,000 – Number of jobs the U.S. economy added in August. Job numbers were revised downward for June, showing the labor market shed jobs for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)