PathWays PA Policy Blog

The full PA Senate is moving quickly to pass work requirement bills that would place a serious burden on low-income Pennsylvanians. A vote could happen as early as Wednesday, October 17. HB 1659, which we discussed back in May , would expand work requirements on SNAP and cause nearly 100,000 people to lose access to food stamps. In most cases, people on SNAP must already work or participate in a training program if they are between the ages of 8-50, non-disabled, and not considered vulnerable individuals. HB 2138 would put new work requirements on the Medicaid program , which helps low-income Pennsylvanians access health insurance. "Able-bodied" adults (which includes people who lose their job or have reduced hours because they are in treatment or recovering from surgery) would have to work 20 hours per week, look for a job, or participate in job training to qualify for Medicaid. Take Action! Our friends at Project Home put together an action alert , including a...

The House of Representatives is taking calls this week about the latest draft of the Farm Bill, which includes many changes to the SNAP (food stamp) program. A vote is expected sometime this week. Under the proposed law , parents of children 6 and up will be required to work at least 25 hours per week in order to qualify for SNAP. Adults age 50-59 will face the same work requirements (currently, adults age 18-49 who are not raising minor children must work 20 hours per week to meet SNAP requirements). Adults would need to certify their work status monthly, creating and expensive and unnecessary bureaucracy in each state. Income eligibility will also decrease so that SNAP will only be available to families earning 130% or less of the federal poverty level. For a family of four, this means earning around $33,000 per year. According to the  Center on Budget and Policy Priorities , these changes will cause over 1 million households (including over 2 million people) to lose acces...

From our friends at PHAN The PA House passed HB 2138, the bill that would force families and individuals who rely on Medicaid to file endless paperwork to prove that they work or are exempt from the law. If there's an error, people could be locked out of Medicaid for months at a time. Not only would this cruel bill strip more than 85,000 of their health coverage, it would cost Pennsylvania taxpayers $3.4 billion over 6 years just to create new red tape for folks who rely on Medicaid. ( You can read more about the bill in our post from mid-April .) Take Action: May 2nd is a statewide Day of Action to protect Medicaid. PHAN will be in Harrisburg from 11-3: sign up to join them here . Call your state Senator to show your opposition to Medicaid cuts and work requirements. PHAN has a sample script: I'm calling today to ask Senator _____________ to oppose adding work requirements and making cuts to Medicaid. The latest attack on Medicaid, House Bill 2138, creates expen...

HB 1659, which would expand work requirements on SNAP and cause nearly 100,000 people to lose access to food stamps, went back to the Appropriations Committee yesterday. But even though it is off the table for now, there is a good chance it will come back. [EDIT 5/2/18: This bill came back out of Appropriations yesterday and was voted on by the full House. It now moves on to the Senate.] In most cases, SNAP recipients must already work or participate in a training program if they are ages 18-50, non-disabled, and not considered "vulnerable individuals" (one example of a vulnerable individual would be someone living in an area with a high-unemployment rate).   According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the work rate for people receiving SNAP is and has been growing . More than 80 percent of SNAP households work the year before or after receiving SNAP. SNAP works to keep children, families, and individuals fed, and to bridge the gap between jobs. It suppleme...