Disappointing August Missouri Benefit Numbers
In August 2010 the average Missouri family receiving Temporary Assistance received $237.19. Adjust that for inflation , to this August and you get $297.22.
Only the average TA family didn’t get $300 this August, no, they received $224.31 — 42¢ a day less in benefits than 11 years ago.
Let’s also remember that this state dramatically pushes needy families off the benefit rolls, with TA helping 108,787 people in 8/10 down to 14,773 in 8/21 (a reduction over 85%!).
For struggling families this isn’t the Show Me State, no, it’s the Hopeless State.
The Missouri Department of Social Services recently released the August 2021 Monthly Management Report for the Family Support Division and MO HealthNet Division. The report is not encouraging…
While the number of Missourians receiving Temporary Assistance increased by 79 people from July to August, the number helped is down 36% from last August.
Pre-expansion, this August 1,106,846 Missourians were covered by Medicaid rolls, or, better than one in six citizens despite some of the most restive rules in the nation.
The food stamp recipient total fell from this July to August and has dropped 10% in the past year.
Two things to remember:
- Missouri Republicans hate the poor. Low-skill workers are a necessary resource to fill low-paying crappy jobs, but, dammit those people don’t believe in Jesus enough to pray themselves out of poverty. That means the state and federal governments must waste money feeding and caring for them, leaving less money available to subsidize the businesses of big corporate donors.
- Instead of the best and the brightest, Missouri hires (and promotes) mediocre people and gives them outdated, inadequate resources to run benefit programs. The goal is to keep struggling families from getting help (so the adults are more likely to take low-paying jobs) by any means necessary.
Yes, Covid created a gigantic hassle for state workers. Yet most other states – especially states with Democrats in charge – managed to feed more people, get medical care for more patients and better support unemployed workers than Missouri.
This state’s poor performance traces back not to bad luck but to conscious decisions – actions and inactions – designed to increase failure.
So, as I have said several times, Missouri ought to have at least 250,000 more citizens on food stamps (SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program]), than we do. The issue is not a lack of poor people, no, the problem is closed offices, an understaffed bureaucracy and the continued use of COBOL based computer programs. (COBOL appeared in 1959! Would you trust a 62 year old car to get you to work every day?)
Back in August 2010 Missouri paid for 22,118 folks in Nursing Facilities. Over the past 11 years the state’s average age has increased, and, scores of new nursing facilities and assisted living institutions have blossomed. Yet, this August just 21,918 Missouri Medicaid patients were in Nursing Facilities. Yes, a drop of 200, about 1%, statistically in a static environment means little. Yet the universe of those needing facilities has grown substantially. It would not be a surprise if 25,000 nursing home beds were paid for by Medicaid. The basic rules have not changed. What’s different is the capacity of the Department of Social Services to investigate and certify applicants. That capacity has degraded.
Remember, for years DSS has been run by an ‘acting’ director. The biggest component, Medicaid, falls to a crony former legislator to run. The Greitens – Parson administration does not want benefit programs to work, they just want to offer the appearance of working.
August Benefit Numbers
2021 2010
Temporary Assistance
Children 11,620 72,223
Adults 3,153 36,564
Total 14,773 108,787
Payments $1,459,804 $10,032,163
Per Family $ 224.31 $ 237.19
Per Day $ 7.24 $ 7.65
MO HealthNet (Medicaid)
Enrolled 1,106,846 895,764
Covered 1,106,571 928,194
Cost $806,414,619 $502,244,571
Per Patient $ 728.75 $ 541.10
Nursing Facility/
Per Patient $3,761.78 $3,358.10
Managed Care/
Per Patient $ 288.41 $ 180.44
Food Stamps
Participants 692,604 927,068
Benefits $159,348,685 $117,630,046
Per Person $ 230.07 $ 126.88
Per Meal $ 2.47 $ 1.36
A Quick Note About October Food Stamp Benefits…
The pandemic SNAP bonus allocations begun by the Trump Administration and continued by Biden’s expires on 9/30/21. This results in a major benefit reduction.
Biden’s team administratively adjusted the formula for determining benefits, resulting in a higher average allocation.
The bottom line is that most every family should see about a 6% increase in their benefits from September to October. (Let’s hope DSS gets that right.)
Glenn Koenen