Not Enough Help & Too Few Helped, Again
Well, it could be worse…
The Missouri Department of Social Services has issued the Family Support Division and MO HealthNet Division Monthly Management Report for November 2020 .
Unlike the rebounds from previous recessions and calamities, the COVID attack resulted in a much quicker drop in the spike in food stamp use and, essentially – despite widespread unemployment in the hospitality industry which employs a terrific number of working moms — the virus created just the smallest of blips (1,831 people, statewide) in Temporary Assistance in Missouri. Recipient totals are quickly falling to pre-COVID levels (when they shouldn’t).
November 2020 October 2020 September 2020
Total Participant
Temporary Assistance 20,411 21,356 22,241
Food Stamps 696,615 726,067 752,531
By contrast, this close to the 2008/2009 Great Recession the number of Missourians needing – and getting – help was still climbing.
Now, we could believe the rosy picture proclaimed by His Accidency and his hench-people in the Parson Administration that Missouri’s economy is thriving. Or, we could listen to pantry people about the state and others who work with struggling families and talk of state resource centers closed to the public, problems getting food stamp interviews scheduled and completed, issues with health care paperwork submissions, general bureaucratic buffoonery, and, well, this pervasive disdain for helping people prevalent in Republican circles.
I lean towards the second option.
Missouri November Benefits
November 2020 November 2010
Temporary Assistance
Children 15,445 73,022
Adults 4,966 37,274
Total 20,411 110,296
Payments $1,989,946 $10,176,863
Per Family $ 230.99 $ 237.31
Per Day $ 7.70 $ 7.91
MO HealthNet (Medicaid)
Enrolled 1,015,291 898,654
Covered 1,012,096 936,614
Cost $791,566,57 $561,803,733
Per Person $ 782.11 $ 599.82
Managed Care 732,799 445,479
Per Person $ 286.79 $ 179.91
Nursing Facilities 22,800 23,062
Cost $79,776,820 $76,142,975
Per Patient $ 3,499 $ 3,302
Food Stamps
Participants 696,615 931,933
Benefits $127,671,625 $117,180,703
Per Person $ 183.27 $ 125.74
Per Meal $ 2.04 $ 1.40
Monthly Management Report November 2010
Remember, food stamp benefits are higher now due to the pandemic bonus provided the states. When the bonus ends, the average stipend per meal will drop back to about $1.45 per meal.
I included the Nursing Facility data to make a point: each granny in a nursing home costs the state ten times as much as a non-senior in Managed Care. With Medicaid Expansion, we’ll be adding those lower-cost people to the rolls – and get paid a lot by Washington to do it.
If Republicans really want to save money on MO HealthNet costs paid by the state, well, every February 1st they could select 10% of nursing home residents in Medicaid beds (around 2,300 non-productive money pits) to be rolled out to the curb to die of exposure. That would save about $8,000,000 a month in on-going cost, or, what it will take to give around 27,000 to 30,000 kids coverage.
(Please don’t share this idea with the Conservative Caucus.)
Glenn