Surprise, Surprise, Surprise as Gomer Pyle used to say…just days after the belated issuance of the January 2018 Monthly Management Report from the Missouri Department of Social Services the February report got spit-out about when it should have appeared.
(Of course, the November and December reports are still Missing In Action, having been issued and then recalled.)
The numbers, alas, point to the continued decline in the portion of Missourians who should be getting help actually benefiting from these programs.
Each day I become more convinced that citizens are dropping from the roles not due to good luck and economic success but to barriers placed in their way by the new management scheme in the Department of Social Services. Destroying the county-level office system for far-away processing centers and forcing people to deal with understaffed Call Centers results in fewer Missourians getting the benefits they need and are entitled to receive.
That’s progress in Governor SEAL’s world.
Again, it’s working. From January to February this year the Temporary Assistance rolls dropped by 459 citizens; SNAP shed 11,021 stampers; and, MO HealthNet lost 5,269 patients!
Please remember that February has just 28 days yet benefits are figured by the month. (Back in the early 1990’s a Division of Family Services official actually suggested that food stamp families buy their condiments and spices in February with their ‘bonus’ money.)
Missouri Benefit Programs February
2018 2017
Temporary Assistance
Children 20,043 23,312
Parents 6,195 7,851
Total 26,238 31,163
Benefits $2,517,630 $2,993,076
Per Family $222.86 $226.37
Per Day $7.96 $8.08
MO HealthNet
Enrolled 972,262 991,572
Covered 1,043,022 1,026,987
Cost $859,080,599 $817,178,612
Per Person $823.65 $795.70
Managed Care $220.93 $226.04
Food Stamps
Recipients 738,856 758,123
Benefits $87,989,160 $92,530,563
Per Person $119.09 $122.05
Per Meal $1.42 $1.45
https://dss.mo.gov/re/pdf/fsd_mhdmr/1702-family-support-mohealthnet-report.pdf
https://dss.mo.gov/re/pdf/fsd_mhdmr/1802-family-support-mohealthnet-report.pdf
This February the food stamp “bonus” was 14¢ per meal, or, $1.26 per person.
Submitted by Glenn Koenen, WCD Member