| Thanks to Jeff Wiggins for sending us this.HB 7 slashes the safety net just when we saw we needed it |
We write to ask you to contact lawmakers today. Click this link to email them or call use the toll free legislative message line 1-800-372-7181.What's at stake? The pandemic showed we need a safety net that works efficiently, treats people with respect and provides real help. That means straightforward rules, user-friendly programs, adequate staffing and modern technology. It means answering the phones.Sadly, a bill now moving quickly in Frankfort ignores the lessons of the pandemic and the recovery.House Bill 7 would add red tape, barriers, costs and penalties to safety net programs that connect people with health care and keep food on the table. Key provisions could see thousands of people lose Medicaid or food assistance, or never make it past new roadblocks to aid in the first place.Among the troubling provisions:- Ban on temporary Medicaid: HB 7 would bar Kentucky’s Medicaid agency from making available simplified, temporary coverage, an approach called presumptive eligibility or “PE.” PE helped thousands when the pandemic hit and shrank dramatically as it eased. Next time, our hands would be tied.
- Bureaucratic burden: HB 7 would end simplified reporting of changes for SNAP—an approach embraced by nearly every state—in favor of reporting almost every change within 10 days. It would tie up families and state workers in a flood of paperwork for over half a million cases. Especially hard hit: part-time workers with fluctuating schedules and income.
- Loss of SNAP after three months: Federal law limits SNAP food assistance for adults without children or disabilities to just 3 months in three years—unless they report work activity. But federal law also wisely allows states to set aside the time limit for areas with higher unemployment. HB 7 says Kentucky could never set it aside, a heartbreaking result for many rural counties.
HB 7 also includes a Medicaid work reporting requirement like Governor Bevin’s all over again, inviting costly litigation should the federal agency approve. Federal courts have ruled emphatically that the resulting loss of coverage doesn’t fulfill the purpose of Medicaid--and found the plans illegal. For more information, see our blog and background from KY Policy.It's rare that we share an urgent call to action. But legislative leaders muscled HB 7 through the House committee and the House floor in just one day last week. The same could happen this week in the Kentucky Senate.Now is the right time to act.Sincerely,Rich SeckelDirector |
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