Missouri Issues February 2020 Benefit Report

Dim Before The Dark

Late but not unexpected, the Missouri Department of Social Services released the Monthly Management Report for February 2020 for the Family Support Division and MO HealthNet Division.

The number of Missourians receiving basic assistance dropped from January to February while the number covered by Medicaid (a.k.a. MO HealthNet) actually increased by almost 2,000 people.  The overall downward trends of the past several continue:  now, of course, Missouri’s benefit programs will explode due to the massive impact of COVID 19.

Remember, since adopting the Call Center system the state’s ability to accurately and efficiently handle benefit cases has eroded.  Before the current crisis people often spent hours – or days – trying to get to a live person at the Call Centers.  DSS has struggled to even keep enough warm bodies available to handle calls, leading to the One Team approach of dragging staff from other tasks to answering phones. 

And, as has been discussed, better than 100,000 Missouri kids lost health coverage due to mismanagement.  (The state prefers to call the loss the result of irresponsible parents not wanting their children to get health care.)  The issues creating that mess have yet to be resolved.

So, when the April 2020 Monthly Management Report comes out around June 10th we will all see how well DSS responded to the crisis…I’m taking the crisis and giving seven points.

Based on what I saw in 2008 – 2010 (and knowing this situation is more dire), I expect that by mid-summer around 1,000,000 Missourians are on the food stamp rolls.  If the system can process the applications, I expect another 250,000 Missourians to join MO HealthNet, bringing the enrolled total to around 1,100,000.

February Benefit Totals

                                               2020                               2016          

Temporary Assistance

  Children                           16,363                              31,108

  Adults                                 4,923                              12,347

  Total                                  21,286                              43,455

  Benefits                        $2,056,352                       $4,023,868

 Per Family                        $225.85                            $221.06

  Per Day                               $ 7.79                               $ 7.62

 

MO HealthNet

  Enrolled                          848,048                              974,292

  Covered                           867,746                            1,116,700

  Cost                               $761,096,766                    $672,123,512

  Per Patient                      $877.10                            $601.88

   Managed Care                591,728                           782,605

   Cost Per Patient             $276.55                           $132.03

 

Food Stamps

  Participants                     657,317                             832,459

  Benefits                          $79,932,343                     $102,457,466

  Per Person                        $121.60                            $123.08

  Per Meal                              $ 1.40                               $ 1.41

Included in the virus stimulus packages (I know, we’re not trying to stimulate this coronavirus) are enhancements to food stamps…

  1. Every family gets the maximum benefit.  That means the typical Missouri family of four will go from $486 in February to $646 when Missouri enacts the enhancement.

Yes, that means some lucky families with a bit more income may go from $250 to $646. 

  1.  Families get extra for school age kids.  To help offset the loss of school meals, families get more in stamps – in addition to the regular maximum.
  2. Many families will get a box of free USDA supplied items.  Details still being worked out but I’d expect about 25 pounds of food for the typical family.

Again, as the info below from the DSS website notes, these good things are still in process and aren’t as timely as we would like.  Fox example, the March bonus benefits arrived in April…

Households will receive P-SNAP for March and April:

·        Your March P-SNAP benefit will be loaded to your card automatically by April 3

·        Your April P-SNAP benefit will be automatically loaded to your card on the day you normally receive your SNAP benefit

  • How do I get P-EBT?
  • If you already receive SNAP benefits, P-EBT will be loaded onto your EBT card automatically as soon as it is approved.
  • If you do not receive SNAP benefits, you will need to apply for P-EBT through a special application process. We will provide this application and more details as soon as it is available and approved.
  • When will P-EBT benefits be available?
  • We do not know when P-EBT benefits will be available at this time, but we will provide updates as soon as possible. Continue to check this site for additional information.

https://mydss.mo.gov/covid-food-stamp-info

P-EBT is, obviously, the fancy name for the food for kids.

As I said, I’m betting on the crisis and giving heavy points.  Missouri has so emasculated its staff and structure to help families that they fail in good times.  These are not good times.

Glenn