Missouri December 2018 Benefit Report Finds Fewer Eligible Citizens Getting Help
State officials claim the steep drop in the food stamp, Medicaid and Temporary Assistance rolls demonstrate a surging economy: families no longer need help because they’re doing so much better.
Alas, they never cite data to back that claim and my searches point at the opposite conclusion, specifically that hundreds of thousands more struggling Missourians ought to receive help with food, medical care and family expenses.
Yes, average wages did pop-up about 2.9% from 2017 to 2018. Yet, as Forbes explains that’s only about 1% more than inflation. And, a significant portion of that increase can be traced to localized increases to the minimum wage.
Looking ahead to the 2019 report, here in Missouri, for example, the 9½% jump in the minimum wage (to $8.60) approved by voters impacts 107,000 minimum wage workers directly. And, additional employees earning a bit above the minimum will see more in their paychecks too. So, much of Missouri’s 2019 increase, unfortunately, will result not from job creation or the economy pushing-up wages but from that new, higher minimum.
A quick reminder: a mom with two kids needs to earn $10.25 per hour, 40 hours a week, to reach the current, 2019 poverty line. Mom can get food stamps if she earns less than $13.35 an hour. So, we must remember that a great portion of the workforce still retains food stamp eligibility. Work tracking requirements (such as proposed in Missouri in Senate Bill 4) won’t push people out of poverty, they will merely give working poor folks more hoops to jump through – or trip over. More on this later.
Back to December 2018.
All three major benefit programs lost recipients in December. From December to December the number on food stamps fell by almost 50,000 Missourians. Temporary Assistance rolls dropped by 15.7%, and, about 70,000 citizens lost Medicaid.
Again, the economic data does not support that sort of decline. My gut tells me that a lack of staffing in the Department of Social Services, a failed Call Center system and other bureaucratic landmines have stolen help from struggling, needy and qualified Missouri citizens.
A quick Call Center report…At a meeting Monday evening a woman told of being on hold for two and a half hours trying to get an answer with a CHIPs question. The worse part of the experience wasn’t the wasted time, she said, it was having to listen to the same single song the entire time she was on hold.
Missouri December Benefits
2018 2013
Temporary Assistance
Children 17,851 57,590
Adults 5,210 28,636
Total 23,061 86,226
Benefits $2,219,652 $7,669,256
Per Family $222.95 $227.97
Per Day $ 7.19 $ 7.35
MO HealthNet
Enrolled 906,003 847,385
Covered 949,598 894,265
Cost $722,552,363 $663,952,699
Per Person $760.90 $742.46
Managed Care 683,944 421,696
Per Person $242.37 $199.81
Food Stamps
Participants 703,365 881,239
Benefits $84,167,486 $104,397,156
Per Person $119.66 $118.43
Per Meal $ 1.29 $ 1.27
https://dss.mo.gov/re/pdf/fsd_mhdmr/1312-family-support-mohealthnet-report.pdf
https://dss.mo.gov/re/pdf/fsd_mhdmr/1812-family-support-mohealthnet-report.pdf
https://dss.mo.gov/re/pdf/fsd_mhdmr/1712-family-support-mohealthnet-report.pdf
Note that Missouri grocers now have $240,000,000 less per year ringing through their registers thanks to the decline in food stamp benefits.
Glenn