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THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JULY 30, 2019
Trump administration’s proposal seeks Despite calls to start
to crack down on food stamp ‘loophole’ over, US health
system covers 90%
By DAVID A. LIEB
Associated Press
Residents signing up
for food stamps in Minne-
sota are provided a brochure
about domestic violence, but
it doesn’t matter if they even
read the pamphlet. The mere
fact it was made available
could allow them to qual-
ify for government food aid
if their earnings or savings
exceed federal limits.
As odd as that might
sound, it’s not actually
unusual.
Thirty-eight other states
also have gotten around fed-
eral income or asset limits
for the Supplemental Nutri-
tion Assistance Program by
using federal welfare grants
to produce materials inform-
ing food stamp applicants
about other available social
services. Illinois, for exam-
ple, produced a fl yer briefl y
listing 21 services, a web-
site and email address and a
telephone number for more
information.
The tactic was encour-
aged by former President
Barack Obama’s adminis-
tration as a way for states
to route federal food aid to
households that might not
otherwise qualify under a
strict enforcement of federal
guidelines. Now President
Donald Trump’s administra-
tion is proposing to end the
practice — potentially elimi-
nating food stamps for more
than 3 million of the nation’s
36 million recipients.
The proposed rule change,
outlined this past week by
the U.S. Department of Agri-
culture, has highlighted the
ideological clash between
Trump’s attempts to tighten
government entitlement pro-
grams and efforts in some
states to widen the social
safety net.
It’s also stirred outrage
and uncertainty among some
who stand to be affected.
“I think it’s pretty rot-
ten,” said Lisa Vega, a single
mother of two teenage boys
in suburban Chicago who
applied for food stamps last
month after losing her job.
Because she receives regular
support payments from her
ex-husband, Vega said her
eligibility for food stamps
likely hinges on the income
eligibility exceptions that
Trump’s administration is
trying to end.
“A lot of these politicians
don’t realize that us Ameri-
cans out here are living pay-
check to paycheck, one crisis
away from being homeless,”
Vega said. “You’re just going
to take this kind of stuff away
from us when we need it the
most?”
Agriculture
Secretary
Sonny Perdue said the pro-
By RICARDO
ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press
AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty
A sign advertises a program that allows food stamp recipients to use their EBT cards to shop at
a farmer’s market in Topsham, Maine.
posed rule change is intended
to close a “loophole” that
states have misused to
“effectively bypass import-
ant eligibility guidelines.”
Current federal guidelines
forbid people who make
more than 130 percent of the
poverty level from getting
food stamps. But many states
believe the cap is too restric-
tive, especially in cities with
a high cost of living, prompt-
ing them to bypass the limits.
At issue is a federal pol-
a minimal TANF-funded
benefi t such as an informa-
tional pamphlet or telephone
hotline. Among other things,
Obama’s
administration
said the expanded eligibil-
ity could help families stung
by a weak economy and pro-
mote savings among low-in-
come households.
Most states adopted the
strategy. Thirty states and
the District of Columbia are
using income limits higher
than the federal standard of
‘A LOT OF THESE POLITICIANS
DON’T REALIZE THAT US
AMERICANS OUT HERE ARE
LIVING PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK,
ONE CRISIS AWAY FROM BEING
HOMELESS. YOU’RE JUST
GOING TO TAKE THIS KIND OF
STUFF AWAY FROM US WHEN WE
NEED IT THE MOST?’
Lisa Vega | single mother of two in suburban Chicago who
applied for food stamps last month after losing her job
icy that allows people who
receive benefi ts through
other government programs,
such as Temporary Assis-
tance for Needy Families, to
automatically qualify for the
food aid program known as
SNAP. The practice, called
categorical eligibility, is
intended partly to reduce
duplicative paperwork. It has
also allowed states to grant
food stamps to more people.
In 2009, Obama’s Agri-
culture Department sent a
memo to its regional direc-
tors encouraging states to
adopt what it termed as
“broad-based categorical eli-
gibility” for food stamps by
providing applicants with
$1,316 monthly for an indi-
vidual or $2,252 for a family
of three. Thirty-nine states
and the District of Colum-
bia have either waived asset
limits entirely or set them
above federal thresholds,
according to the Agriculture
Department.
The department’s inspec-
tor general has raised con-
cerns about the tactic. It also
came under public scrutiny
last year after self-described
millionaire Rob Undersander
testifi ed before the Minne-
sota legislature that he and
his wife had legally received
about $6,000 in food stamps
over 19 months because his
considerable assets and Indi-
Babysitting makes grandma feel used
Dear Annie: I’m a grand- life: “No.” Try using it the
mother to fi ve children. next time your son and his
My son Brian and his wife, wife are daydreaming of
Amanda, have a 3-year-old making a tropical getaway
and a 6-month-old together.
and leaving you in charge of
They live several
their home life.
states away, about
Giving in to their
DEAR
a fi ve-hour drive. I
requests all the time
ANNIE
get to see them close
will leave you feel-
to once a month,
ing taken advantage
though, as they con-
of and resentful. And
tinually ask me to
that’s a surefi re way
watch the kids while
to damage your rela-
they go on vacation.
tionship with your
When their baby
son. Set boundaries.
was only 3 months ANNIE LANE
Dear Annie: I am
Creators
old, they took a trip
dating Jacob, a man I
Syndicate Inc.
to a resort in Mex-
met online two years
ico. Personally, I
ago. Soon after we
would never leave an infant, connected online, I broke it
so I don’t understand their off with the guy I had been
desire to leave so often. Now seeing and fl ew to meet Jacob
they’re going on a weeklong in Utah, where he lives. We
cruise, and I’ll be baby-sit- hit it off and decided to start a
ting again.
long-distance relationship. (I
I don’t mind watching the live on the East Coast.)
grandkids. I love them to the
Things were great for the
moon and back, and really, I fi rst few months. Then we
appreciate how nice it is that started fi ghting almost every
I get to spend time with them, day, mostly about small stuff;
especially while they’re still he wasn’t calling me enough
little and thrilled to see their and hadn’t visited me (when
grandma. But I think it’s get- I had visited him twice). We
ting out of hand, and I feel worked out a better routine,
as if my son and daughter- and he started visiting me
in-law think I don’t have a every few months. But now
life of my own. Am I being I’m dealing with some other
ridiculous? — Frustrated issues.
Grandma
Jacob is Mormon. (I’m
Dear Frustrated: Here’s not religious.) He isn’t fully
a word that will change your committed to his faith any-
more, but he still goes to
church every week and has a
lot of friends from that com-
munity. One of these friends
is a woman who is about his
age (he’s 40) and has taken
to sending me threatening
Facebook messages about
how I am “bad” and Jacob is
a “good man” who deserves
“a nice Mormon girl.” She
makes me feel like a terrible
person, and I’ve never even
met this lady!
I brought this up with
Jacob, but he continues to act
as if everything is fi ne when
he sees this woman in group
settings. He said he doesn’t
want to confront her, because
they have so many friends in
common. I wish he would
tell her to stop. He just laughs
it off and says, “That’s just
how Mary is. Don’t worry
about her.” Well, I do worry!
— Secular Girlfriend
Dear Secular: Mormon
or not, Jacob should not be
allowing anyone to harass
you in any way. If he is
allowing this to go on from
across the country, I shudder
to think what he would toler-
ate if you lived in the same
city. It sounds as if he either
does not have much of a
backbone to stick up for you
or he does not care enough
to. Move on and try to fi nd a
new boyfriend.
vidual Retirement Account
withdrawals didn’t count
against his eligibility.
Undersander, who is a
Trump supporter, said this
week that he had been trying
to make a point — not game
the system — and praised
Trump’s administration for
proposing to tighten eligibil-
ity standards.
“I think that states just
found this loophole, and then
I think they’ve been abusing
a loophole,” Undersander
said.
Although Undersander
failed to persuade Minne-
sota to change its policy, crit-
ics were more successful in
Mississippi. On July 1, Mis-
sissippi implemented a state
law prohibiting its Depart-
ment of Human Services
from using noncash benefi ts
in other programs to trigger
food stamp eligibility.
Under the Trump admin-
istration’s proposed rule
change, residents in all states
would need to be authorized
to receive at least $50 a month
in TANF benefi ts for a mini-
mum of six months in order
to automatically qualify for
food stamps. Subsidies for
childcare, employment and
work-related transportation
would still count. But the
proposal would stop states
from linking eligibility to the
receipt of an informational
brochure.
The Minnesota Depart-
ment of Human Services has
estimated that 12,000 of its
roughly 400,000 food stamp
recipients could be cut off if
the federal government elim-
inates its ability to use a bro-
chure as justifi cation for
offering food stamps to those
earning up to 165% of the
federal poverty level instead
of the federal threshold of
130% of the poverty mark.
Similar estimates aren’t
available for all states.
WASHINGTON
—
America’s much-maligned
health care system is cov-
ering 9 out of 10 people, a
fact that hasn’t stopped the
2020 presidential candi-
dates from refi ghting bat-
tles about how to provide
coverage, from Bernie
Sanders’ call for replac-
ing private insurance with
a government plan to Pres-
ident Donald Trump’s
pledge to erase the Afford-
able Care Act and start
over.
The politicians are
depicting a system in melt-
down. The numbers point
to a different story, not as
dire and more nuanced.
Government surveys
show that about 90% of
the population has cov-
erage, largely preserv-
ing gains from President
Barack Obama’s years.
Independent experts esti-
mate that more than one-
half of the roughly 30 mil-
lion uninsured people in
the country are eligible for
health insurance through
existing programs.
Lack of coverage was a
growing problem in 2010
when Democrats under
Obama passed his health
law. Now the bigger issue
seems to be that many
people with insurance are
struggling to pay their
deductibles and copays.
“We need to have a
debate about coverage and
cost, and we have seen
less focus on cost than we
have on coverage,” said
Colorado Sen. Michael
Bennet. He is among the
Democratic
presiden-
tial candidates who favor
building on the current
system, not replacing it
entirely, as does Sanders.
“The cost issue is a huge
issue for the country and
for families,” Bennet said.
A report this year by
the Commonwealth Fund
think tank in New York
found fewer uninsured
Americans than in 2010
but more who are “under-
insured,” a term that
describes policyholders
exposed to high out-of-
pocket costs, when com-
pared with their individual
incomes. The report esti-
mated 44 million Amer-
icans were underinsured
in 2018, compared with
29 million in 2010 when
the law was passed. That’s
about a 50% increase, with
the greatest jump among
people with employer
coverage.
“When you have 90 per-
cent of the American peo-
ple covered and they are
drowning in their health
care bills, what they want
to hear from politicians
are plans that will address
their health care costs,
more than plans that will
cover the remaining 10
percent,” said Drew Alt-
man, president of the Kai-
ser Family Foundation, a
nonpartisan research orga-
nization that tracks the
health care system. “When
Democrats talk about uni-
versal coverage more than
health care costs, they are
playing to the dreams of
activists and progressives
... much less to the actual
concerns of the 90 per-
cent who have coverage
today.”
Sanders’
offi ce
responds that the Ver-
mont senator’s “Medicare
for All” plan would solve
both the coverage and cost
problems for individual
Americans. Medical care
would be provided with no
deductibles or copays. No
one would be uninsured or
underinsured.
“The simple answer is
that our health care system
becomes more unmanage-
able for more and more
Americans every year,”
Sanders spokesman Keane
Bhatt said in a statement.
“This is not a system that
needs a few tweaks. This
is a system that needs a
complete overhaul.”
But other countries that
provide coverage for all
and are held up by Sand-
ers as models for the U.S.
don’t offer benefi ts as
generous as he’s propos-
ing. If he is elected pres-
ident, there’s no way of
telling how his plan would
emerge from Congress, or
even whether something
like it could pass.
Four other 2020 Dem-
ocrats are co-sponsors of
Sanders’ bill: Sens. Cory
Booker of New Jersey,
Kirsten Gillibrand of New
York, Kamala Harris of
California, and Elizabeth
Warren of Massachusetts.
On the other side of
the political spectrum,
Trump is talking about
big changes. His adminis-
tration is seeking to have
federal courts declare the
entire Obama-era health
care law unconstitutional,
jeopardizing coverage for
20 million people, jet-
tisoning protections for
patients with preexisting
conditions, and upending
the rest of the 970-page
statute, now nearly 10
years old.
Going to the Dogs!
ST
E
T
N
O
C
PHOTO
Welcome to
's
D G DAYS
Simon
National Dog Day
Photo Contest!
Grab your collars and your cameras, National Dog Day is Aug. 26 and we
are on the prowl for the bestest, cutest, snuggliest pups on the coast.
According to www.nationaldogday.com, the day celebrates all dogs, mixed
breed and purebred, and works to promote the many dogs that need to be
rescued.
In 2016, we fetched 103 photos; in 2017 we romped home with 207 shots
of more than 230 critters. Last year we had more than 180 photos.
Submit your photo(s) before midnight Sunday, Aug. 12 here:
http://bit.ly/Vote2019DogDays
Then, come back and visit the pooches all that next week and vote on your
favorite before midnight Saturday, Aug 17. Vote once a day.
The top vote-getters will be featured in the annual Going to the Dogs
section on Saturday, Aug. 24.
Share with your friends and family: #Going2TheDogsNW
Now, who’s a good boy? Who’s a good girl?
For more information, call The Astorian at (800) 781-3211