skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

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

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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.

Child Care Costs as Much as College for Some Michigan Families

play audio
Play

Monday, March 29, 2021   

LANSING, Mich. -- Affordable child care is a crucial support for working parents, rivaling the cost of college or housing for some Michiganders.

Research from the Michigan League for Public Policy showed the price for an infant at a child-care center is nearly 20% of income for Michiganders at the state's median income level of about $57,000 dollars.

Parker James, Kids Count Policy Analyst at the League, said Michigan has a low eligibility rate for the state's child-care subsidy program, with just 5% of kids age five and younger qualifying.

"Just the eligibility remaining too low leaves a lot of families out," James explained. "And having to make really tough decisions about economic opportunities, educational opportunities, a lot of sacrifices being made just because child care is so expensive."

The national median eligibility is about 180% of the poverty level; Michigan's is 150%.

The report, with county-level fact sheets, was created as part of the new Think Babies Michigan Collaborative, which is working to make Michigan a top state in which to have a baby and raise a child.

James added another challenge is some Michigan families live in child-care deserts, where there is a lack of supply of licensed child-care providers.

"Providers tend to concentrate in areas with higher median incomes and housing values," James pointed out. "So communities with lower incomes; rural communities, communities that have been racially segregated and cut off from resources, those are the families really most affected by this lack of child care."

Child-care workers also face financial challenges. James noted roughly half of them are eligible for some sort of public assistance and few have health care, paid sick leave or other benefits.

"We're advocating for solutions that both support providers by increasing reimbursement rates and subsidy and also families by increasing eligibility," James emphasized. "So we can support families, but also support providers and child-care workers who tend to be some of the lowest paid professionals in the state."

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's 2022 budget proposal includes a temporary increase of the child-care subsidy eligibility to 200% of poverty, and an increase in rates paid by the state to child-care providers.

Disclosure: The Michigan League for Public Policy/KIDS COUNT contributes to our fund for reporting on Budget Policy and Priorities, Children's Issues, Livable Wages/Working Families, and Poverty Issues. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


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…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

Social Issues

play sound

A 2023 study from the University of Nebraska Medical Center concluded the number of Nebraskans with a mental health or substance abuse disorder has pr…

 

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