For the last several years Kansas has boasted of its shrinking welfare roles. And its true.
Ever since the administration of Gov. Sam Brownback tightened eligibility rules, voila!, the number of those applying for benefits has shrunk.
In 2016, Kansas reduced the timeframe a family can receive food stamps from 36 to 24 months one of the lowest in the nation down from 60 months in 2011, forcing the number of applicants to drop from 15,000 to 5,000.
As for Medicaid, a Kansas family of three can make no more than $8,000 and qualify for its health insurance benefits.
Kris Kobach, Republican nominee for governor, said Wednesday he wants to further tighten Kansas law to stipulate that welfare recipients must log in 30 hours of work a week, up from the current 20 hours. Kobach also favors a work requirement for the able-bodied who receive Medicaid.
Brownback and Kobach justify the measures by saying welfare of all manner discourages people from getting jobs and thus damages their self-esteem.
The Trump administration views the continuation of safety net programs such as welfare as a national failing, that as a nation were missing the mark because were not all self-sufficient.
So, by eliminating food stamps and health insurance were doing the poor a favor, the thinking goes. We dont want to be supporting anyone unnecessarily, after all. Which would all be well and good if those affected were in OK shape. You know. They all have jobs, with benefits.
The data, however, shows that these new requirements is a steep hill for many. For one thing, while about 90 percent of these people already work, keeping a steady job is a challenge, sometimes not of their own making, and often because of chronic physical or mental health problems, according to The Hamilton Project, a recent study on work requirements and safety net programs.
YOU MAY NOT know these working poor, but you see them. Theyre the ones working two, sometimes three jobs, cleaning offices, flipping burgers or stocking shelves.
For many, if their food stamps stop, their lives just got that much more impossible.
Meanwhile, President Trumps budget for fiscal year 2019 includes cuts of 7.1 percent to Medicare, 22.5 percent to Medicaid, and 27.4 percent to food stamps.
These programs make the difference between families receiving the nutrition and health care they need or not in order to live, and work and support their families.
In 2017, 3 million Americans were kept out of poverty because of safety net programs such as food stamps and housing subsidies.
WHEN IT COMES to looking at our state and national budgets we should not look to cut costs on the back of our poor and elderly.
