Update on PA. Rejection of Food Stamps for Households With More than $5,500 of Assets
PA. is one of the few states that now requires an analysis of assets owned by a household before they can receive food stamps. Some asset test may make sense to avoid extreme cases, but PA. now refuses food stamps for households with only $5500 in assets, except it is $9000 for those 60 or older or the disabled. There are a few exceptions in what is counted as assets, but money set aside to pay future college tuition, medical bills or home repairs do count.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130318_Corbett_s_cuts_SNAP_program.html
Excerpts:
"So roughly one-half of 1 percent of SNAP spending here is cut, but state administrative costs likely increased to make federal funding decrease.
"What it means is Pennsylvania is going without federal dollars that come into the state to feed needy people. It's not as though they went away. It shifts costs to family and local social services," says Ellen Vollinger, legal director for the Food Research and Action Center, a national nonprofit working to fight hunger. She and others say the test mostly punishes older or disabled recipients with some savings for medical needs.
And Julie Zaebst, of the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger, argues the efficiency question: "Every single person needs to document assets even if they have just $100 in a bank account, adding an enormous amount of paperwork for caseworkers to weed out a small percentage of people. . . . Is that efficient? It just doesn't seem a good use of already overburdened caseworkers' time."
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