Chris Murphy and the SNAP challenge

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Roger Senserrich

The US Congress is debating the new farm bill this week, and this means talking about SNAP. The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (the old food stamps) is one of the foundations of our safety net, and the biggest line item on the farm bill.

The SNAP program is facing significant cuts. The bill on the House of Representatives cuts $20 billion out of the program; the one in the Senate $4 billion. To show the impact of these cuts Senator Chris Murphy has decided to highlight the hardships that SNAP recipients face every day, taking on the SNAP challenge.

IMAG0012What is the SNAP challenge? For this past week the Senator has spent for food only $4,80 a day, the average benefit amount for SNAP recipients in the state of Connecticut. He has been tracking his experience on his Facebook page and Twitter accounts, and his accounts are quite interesting.  He shared what he learned these days at a round table in the Connecticut Food Bank on East Haven. Some of his comments today: he really is hungry all the time, has lost six pounds in a week and has relied on ramen and bananas for most of his meals. On today´s meeting he stressed on how buying any kind of healthy food for $4,80 is pretty much impossible.

The main take away, however, goes beyond the SNAP challenge – it is the fact that the SNAP program is crucial for many, many families, it is probably underfunded as it is, and even so Congress will probably reduce the benefit if no one gets on the way. It is time to call our legislators again, and tell them that many, many people in the state and across the country can not even make ends meet with the SNAP program as it is. We can not cut it more.

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Obamacare: it might just work as intended

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Roger Senserrich

Way back in 2009, when the CBO was estimating how much people were going to pay for health insurance in the soon-to-be-created exchanges, they gave a pretty startling number: $433 a month per person, on average, for a silver plan.

A lot of studies looked similar, and critics started talking about “sticker shock” once the law was implemented. The Affordable Care Act would be forcing people to get expensive insurance that they can not pay, and so on.

Well, we are starting to see the exchanges come to life, and it turns out that the premiums are coming much lower than everyone expected. California just published the list of plans and premiums from their (gigantic) exchange, and the cheapest silver plan for a 40 year old male costs $276 a month, or a 63% of the expected cost. This premiums would be for unsubsidized plans; for individuals below 400% the Federal Poverty line, the costs would be actually much lower (in grey, the subsidy amount):

silver 40

¿Surprising? Well, sometimes it turns out that legislation does work as intended; a big pool of potential clients, plus standardized, comparable plans, plus plenty of competition between insurance companies translates into pretty affordable prices. Admittedly California is a huge market with more than seven million uninsured and their exchange have pretty detailed cost-control regulations, but the basic structure of Obamacare is sound, so it is not surprising that it might just deliver.

The most important bit of this prices, by the way, are not the premiums for forty-somethings; the success of the law lies in convincing low risk, young patients to enroll instead of paying the penalty. The premiums on that end are pretty affordable, all things considered. Here we have the cheapest bronze (less generous) plans:

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Again, not too bad, and the subsidies make a huge difference. This legislation might just work as promised. And that´s very good news. The rates so far in Connecticut don´t look terrible, but we haven´t seen the insurance carriers competing yet. We´ll see.

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Encourage Your Senator to Vote for HB 6553

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Amanda Presutti (Intern)

A bill that is currently before the Legislature will assist workers who are temporarily unable to work due to illness or injury, pregnancy or birth of a child, or need to care for a seriously ill child or spouse. H.B. No. 6553, “An Act Establishing a Task Force to Study Family Medical Leave Insurance,” seeks to establish a task force to analyze the feasibility of an insurance program which will provide short-term benefits to those with unforeseen or difficult medical circumstances. The House has just recently passed the bill, and now it awaits a decision from the Senate.

The bill holds incredible relevance to virtually all workers throughout Connecticut, as the majority of workers or their family members have been affected by a serious illness at one time or another. Furthermore, many women have had to take time out of work for a new birth or pregnancy.

For this reason, employees throughout Connecticut should unite on this issue and urge their local senators to vote yes on HB 6553. To preserve economic well-being and prevent financial struggles due to a potential or current pregnancy or illness, it is necessary to create our own task force and encourage our representatives to act. Establishing FMLI will ensure that all Connecticut employees can create a financially sound, advantageous environment for themselves and their families.

You can find out more information about the FMLI task force and find the link to contact your local officials on the Connecticut FMLI Coalition’s website.

 

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Potential Changes in Care4Kids will help Working Mothers

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Amanda Presutti (Intern)

A recent Legislative bill aims to make changes to the Care4Kids program so that women taking unpaid leave from work due to birth or impending birth will be given six weeks of payment eligibility during leave. According to SB 887, “An Act Concerning the Care4Kids Program,” womeCare4Kidsn will be guaranteed paid leave as long as the recipient intends to return to work, verifies that eligibility is needed to prevent a lost pre-school or child care slot, and the child continues to attend the program during the recipient’s leave.

The bill, which was co-sponsored by state representatives from both political parties, will help low-income families who otherwise would have lost the Care4Kids childcare subsidy and been forced into an even more difficult financial predicament.

On May 1st, the bill passed through the Senate with an unanimous “yea” vote, and on May 20th, it passed through the House and became a public act. Notably, the bill passed by a large margin in the House- only seven members voted down the bill out of the 130 representatives voting that day. Currently, we are waiting for the bill to be signed by Governor Malloy and put into effect.

The strong backing from across party lines shows the true importance in helping low-income families attain necessary child-care. Moreover, it shows the overwhelming support throughout Connecticut to help working poor families achieve economic stability and fully provide for their children.

 

 

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Support CAHS with a birdie

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Roger Senserrich

I want to let you know about an easy and fun fundraiser.  CAHS is participating in the Birdies for Charity fundraising campaign through the Travelers Championship Golf Tournament to be held in June.

Did you know that 14.9% of children in our state live in poverty, up from 12.8% in 2010. That’s 118,809 children!  That’s why the mission of the Connecticut Association for Human Services (CAHS) is to end poverty and engage, equip, and empower all families in Connecticut to build a secure future.

We are excited to announce a unique way you can support CAHS in our work to help low to moderate income children and families.

Golfer_swingWe have become a member of the Birdies for Charity program.  The Birdies for Charity program is a pledge based program based on the number of birdies made by PGA TOUR professionals during the Travelers Championship in June. If 1,500 birdies are made, a $.02 pledge would be a $30.00 donation to our organization. The Travelers Championship will donate 100% of the proceeds to CAHS. Donors also have a chance to guess the number of Birdies made during the championship. The donor that correctly guesses the number of birdies will win a $1,000 Cash Gift Card provided by CT Association of Nonprofits along with other prizes.

Making a pledge per birdie or a flat rate donation is easy. Simply visit our pledge website and make your pledge today. Your gift to CAHS can impact the lives of children and families who need it most.

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Possible Relief for CT Employees Taking Unpaid Medical Leave

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Jillian Gilchrest

fmli logoA bill before the Legislature will create a task force to study Family Medical Leave Insurance (FMLI), a wage replacement program that Connecticut’s workers can access when they need time away from work to care for themselves during an illness, for a sick or aging loved one, or a new baby.  HB #6553, “AN ACT ESTABLISHING A TASK FORCE TO STUDY FAMILY MEDICAL LEAVE INSURANCE  has been voted out of the Legislature’s Labor Committee and is now on the “GO list” for the House of Representatives.

We know that people are taking leave from work to deal with their own illness or because they are in a caregiving role to an aging parent, sick child or newborn.  We also know that families cannot afford unpaid leaves and that many people actually call the Department of Labor in search of compensation while out on an unpaid medical leave.

However, before Connecticut creates an FMLI program, a thoughtful study and discussion must take place in order to understand how a program will be administered, who will be eligible, and how it will be paid for.  The task force calls for the appointment of a diverse group of people, including representatives of large and small business, the insurance industry, advocates for individuals with chronic illness and  caregiving responsibilities, and state departments and agencies to name a few charged with studying how Connecticut can make FMLI happen.

Anyone who would benefit or could benefit from FMLI is urged to visit the Connecticut FMLI Coalition’s website and to contact their legislator. You can find information about the task force and how to  contact your elected officials on the website.

People are always going to need to take time away from work, it’s a problem that isn’t going away. Elected officials need to hear that people are interested in FMLI and want the State to start planning. 

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Kids Count: the data book

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Roger Senserrich

CAHS officially presented the 2013 Kids Count Data Book at the Legislative Office Building in the Capitol. You can find the whole book here in PDF form with detailed town by town information in more of a dozen indicators.

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The really important part, however, goes beyond the PDF; you can also download the raw data at the newly revamped Kids Count Data Center. Here you can map trends, compare towns and regions and get a more detailed look at the information on the data book. You can generate reports by county, town, school or even Congressional  district. You can also check the CT Kids Count score, and see how each region in Connecticut compares to the state and national average.

In a state where data is sometimes hard to find, the data center is a great resource for advocates and policy makers. Make sure to check it out.

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Kids Count data point of the day: overall results

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Roger Senserrich

Tomorrow CAHS will be presenting the Kids Count data book for 2013 (1 pm, Legislative Office Building, Hartford – be there!) tracking seventeen indicators in child well-being in the state of Connecticut. The book has four main focus areas:kids count

  • Economic well-being: town by town data on child poverty, EITC, reduced and free school lunch, SNAP recipients and Care 4 Kids enrollment.
  • Health and Safety: town by town data on low and very low birth babies, pre-natal care, infant mortality, child death and Husky insurance.
  • Education: town by town data on Pre- Kindergarten experience, CMT grade reading goals (4th grade), CAPT 10th grade goals and graduation rates.
  • Family and community: town by town data of substantiated child abuse and neglect, teen birth and preventable teen deaths.

The recession has proved challenging, and the indicators on the data set point in that direction. There are, however, some bright spots in some areas:

  • Family and community: two of the three indicators, teen births and preventable teen deaths, had substantial improvements, with 20%+ drops. Abuse numbers, however, got considerably worse.
  • Health and safety: all but one indicator improved or remained stable. Even in this context, the only indicator that worsened (infant mortality) only had a modest increase between 2004 and 2009.
  • Education: all four indicators had minor improvements in the past few years; preK and graduation rates being close to flat.
  • Economic well being: this set of indicator was mixed – poverty is up, as well as kids eligible for free or reduced price lunch at schools. The safety net, however, has helped softening the blow;  income support programs expanded eligibility and covered many new families, providing additional support when and where it was needed.

Overall, the situation is not a good one: there are more kids in poverty, and the huge disparities between the poor inner cities and wealthy suburbs in the state have widened. The safety net, however, has helped to limit the damage done by the recession, and our education system, although still showing a huge achievement gap between poor and wealthy districts, is slowly getting better.

We are not improving fast enough, that´s for sure. And we need to do more. But it is not all bad news.

We will release the full report and data from the Kids Count book tomorrow at our event at the Capitol, as well as online. The full report includes town by town data for all indicators, and will be available for download after the event. Join us tomorrow to hear from CAHS´staff and our panelist analyzing the data, and get a free copy of the book.

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Kids Count data point of the day: teen births

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Roger Senserrich

CAHS will release the 2012 Kids Count data book April 30th at 1 pm in an event at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. Join us!

PregnantWomanBirths to teenagers are strongly linked to poverty and single
parenthood. Teen mothers are much more likely to go on
welfare than women who postpone childbearing. Nearly half of ever complete high school. This limits the mother’s employment options, putting her at long-term risk of low-wage earnings, and hurts the opportunities available for the child.

Thankfully, we have good news: teen births have been steadily decreasing in the past few years, and the latest data only reinforces that trend. State wide the rate has gone from 13.3 births to mothers 15 to 17 per thousand in 2007 to 10.5 in 2009.  The drivers behind this numbers, according to the Youth Risk Behavioral Study, is that teens are delaying the onset of sex, having fewer partners and using condoms more often. School based health centers are offering more reproductive health services, improving access to contraception in many districts.

As happens often in Connecticut we still see a large gap between rates in the larger, poorer cities and the rest of state; Hartford´s has four times as many teen pregnancies as the Connecticut average, Bridgeport three times as many. Some large districts has been fairly successful reducing these numbers, however; Stamford is only 50% over the state average.

We will release data points from the book and analysis in the coming days. The full report includes town by town data for several indicators, and will be available for download after the event.

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Pass HB 6553 & Study FMLI!

Posted on April 26, 2013 by admin

Now more then ever, Connecticut should once more lead the way and establish a legislative Task Force to study Family Medical Leave Insurance (FMLI).  The Taskforce will study how Connecticut can have a partial wage replacement program when people need time away from work to care for themselves, a loved one or a new child.

Many CT workers have even asked if such a program is available to them!  According to written testimony submitted by Sharon Palmer, Commissioner of the CT Department of Labor, “the Department of Labor receives numerous inquiries from employees as to whether there is a program to provide compensation while on an unpaid medical leave from work”.  

In March 2011, only 11% of private sector workers and 17% of public sector workers reported having access to paid family leave through their employer.  That is a small percentage of people who have access to paid leave and for those who must take unpaid leave, many Connecticut workers are not covered or eligible for the job protection guaranteed under the Federal Medical Leave Act (FMLA), or they simply cannot afford to take unpaid leave. 

Currently HB 6553, An Act Establishing a Task Force to Study Family Medical Leave Insurance (FMLI) is on the House of Representatives GO list.  We hope that our Representatives will take the next important step and vote YES to establishing a Task Force to study this further.

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