‘It’s only a couple of hundred dollars,’ or, ‘we can cut the Circuit Breaker or we can cut in-home care for seniors.’
Remember those arguments from the last legislative session? By the middle of May, thanks to State Representative Deb Lavender (D – Kirkwood) and friends, a way to have both the tax credit for senior citizen renters and home health care passed in both ends of the Capitol – only to have Governor Eric Greitens gleefully wield his Veto pen.
Alas, it’s a lousy time to be a senior in Missouri. Besides the Circuit Breaker, other special help for our older neighbors is under attack in Jefferson City and Washington.
Let’s look at Grandma Jane, a hypothetical but friendly women in her 70’s living with a bunch of health problems. She has a modest but cute apartment in an area suburb. She worked a bit after raising her kids but her Social Security payment, like many widows, is based on the survivor formula on her late husband’s account. She gets $900 a month, $10,800 per year. That’s a bit above average for surviving spouses [ https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/ ], yet, not enough for her to sit pretty. That’s not a surprise since the Poverty Level for a single person is $12,060 a year or $1,005 a month.
Fortunately, she qualifies for several programs…
$ 500 Missouri Circuit Breaker a tax credit to lower-income seniors to help offset property taxes
$ 1,200 Missouri Rx Program help paying for her many prescriptions beyond Medicare’s coverage
$ 1,716 Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) Medicaid payment towards her share of Medicare
$ 2,160 Food Stamps $180 per month, or, around $1.94 per meal
$250 Heating Assistance Grant a state pass-through of a federal allocation to Missouri
Wow! Grandma Jane gets $ 5,826 in special help each year! This targeted aid gives her a standard of living of about $16,600. Not golden toilet living like Donald Trump, but a lot better than Social Security alone.
Uh-oh!
Remember, the Circuit Breaker for renters got SEALed. The legislature also cut back on the Missouri Rx program, meaning that $100 a month will become $50 or $0. Proposed federal cuts to Medicaid (MO HealthNet) will target that QMB.
And, the Trump administration and friends plan to trim food stamps by 25%, and, give states a 10% to 25% co-pay…Maybe Grandma Jane will get $20 or $50 a month when the dust clears.
That heating grant? Trump has targeted the Low-Income Heat Assistance Program (LiHEAP) for complete elimination.
In other words, a series of trims and cuts which don’t sound that big each on their own wind up taking $3,000 a year or more out of Grandma Jane’s standard of living. Poverty’s sting grows sharper.
Of course, we’re told these inefficient and wasteful programs must be slashed. Missouri and America must “pay for” tax cuts for wealthy ‘job creators.’
Sorry grandma.
Submitted by Glenn Koenen, WCD Member
Missouri Circuit Breaker http://dor.mo.gov/forms/MO-PTC%20Instructions_2016.pdf
Missouri Rx Program http://dss.mo.gov/mhd/faq/pages/faqmo_rx.htm
QMB http://www.medicareadvocacy.org/old-site/InfoByTopic/MedicareSavingsPrograms/MedicareSavingsProgsMain.htm & http://dss.mo.gov/re/pdf/fsd_mhdmr/1705-family-support-mohealthnet-report.pdf Table 23
Food Stamps http://www.gettingfoodstamps.org/snapcalculator.php & May 2017 Monthly Management Report shown above
LiHEAP http://www.reformer.com/stories/trump-budget-could-literally-freeze-the-poor-to-death,513024 & https://dss.mo.gov/fsd/energy-assistance/