skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

SNAP Changes Leave Thousands of Kentuckians Struggling with Food Access

play audio
Play

Monday, April 1, 2019   

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Thousands of Kentuckians classified as able-bodied adults without dependents are losing Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program or SNAP benefits, according a new report.

Researchers at the Urban Institute found at least 13,122 Kentuckians lost food assistance between January 2017 and September 2018, after the state put back into place a rule limiting SNAP benefits to 3 months, unless individuals meet certain work requirements.

Lauran Hardin, a nurse living in Maysville, has a family member who has bipolar schizoaffective disorder and lost his SNAP benefits.

"He couldn't work at a regular job from his illness, the stress and the external stimuli is too much,” she relates. “So to actually find a job you can do, that has that kind of criteria or that kind of supportive environment, is almost non-existent."

Hardin says because her family member was, in eyes of the state, an able-bodied adult without dependents, he was denied food assistance.

Hardin says the classification does not account for people like her relative who have mental health issues or other impairments that make it difficult to work but who do not have children or receive federal disability benefits.

"He was dropped off of SNAP, and you can't get it back,” she states. “Like, it takes a waiting period before you can get it back. So it was a three-month waiting period."

Federal rules require able-bodied adults without dependents to work 80 hours per month if they receive SNAP benefits for more than three months in a three-year period.

However, the work-related limits were waived until 2017, when Kentucky reinstated them for most counties.

Jon Tew, a senior program manager for policy and advocacy with the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, says losing SNAP means losing access to food, and food insecurity leads to bad health outcomes.

"What we see as a direct effect of this, is, patients of ours who are making progress are going to stop making progress,” he states. “Patients that would otherwise make progress aren't going to. I mean, this is negative health effects – both physical and mental health – are going to be a result of this."

The federal government has proposed changing a rule that allows states to waive SNAP work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents in areas with levels of high poverty or unemployment.

According to Kentucky Voices for Health, there are more than 500,00 individuals and more than 250,000 households in Kentucky currently receiving SNAP benefits.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Many factors affect a customer's bill amount, including energy usage, weather, and the number of days in a billing period, according to Arizona Public Service. (Jason Yoder/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021