HHS Approves Nebraska Welfare Waiver

HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala today approved a welfare demonstration for Nebraska that would give most welfare recipients a choice between assistance plans, encouraging them to opt for the plan that would best help them move toward employment and self- sufficiency.

Announcing the waiver approval in a speech today, Secretary Shalala told a meeting of the American Public Welfare Association that "meaningful welfare reform must be first and foremost about moving people from welfare to work."

Today's waiver, allowing major changes to Nebraska's Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, makes Nebraska the 24th state granted a welfare waiver granted by the Clinton administration. Saying the waivers encourage innovative approaches on the state level, Shalala said the administration in just two years has "granted welfare reform waivers to more states than all the previous administrations combined. The Clinton administration is committed to giving states broad flexibility to test new approaches in moving people from welfare to work.

"Nebraska's demonstration program combines work, education, and employment requirements with incentives for positive performance," Shalala said. "I called Gov. Nelson today to congratulate him on his leadership in pursuing this welfare reform initiative."

Under the Nebraska plan, most welfare recipients would choose between two time-limited welfare plans. The Time-Limited High Disregards program would offer slightly lower benefits, but would enable recipients with employment income to retain more benefits during a transition period. The Time-Limited Alternative Benefit program would offer slightly higher benefits, but the level of assistance would be more quickly reduced when the recipient began earning income from work. A Non-Time Limited program would also continue in place, but could only be chosen by recipients who are exempted by the state from enrolling in one of the time-limited programs.

Several new provisions will apply to all three programs:

A self-sufficiency contract will be developed by the caseworker and recipient.
There will be no increase in benefits for children conceived while the mother is receiving AFDC.
Resource limits will be raised to $5,000.
For each minor child not attending school, the AFDC benefit level will be reduced by $50 unless the adult has taken reasonable steps to encourage the child to return to school.
When a minor parent lives at home, support will be secured from the minor's parent(s) if the parent's income exceeds 300 percent of the federal poverty level.

Provisions of the Time-Limited High Disregards program are:

Eligible persons have the option of choosing which program they wish to enroll in, but once a choice is made the recipient may not switch to the other program.
Cash assistance, with some exceptions, is provided for a total of 24 months in a 48-month period.
Food stamps will be cashed-out.
The AFDC payment schedule is reduced. For example, a family of three would receive a maximum of $342 instead of $364.
All adult wage earners must participate in educational job skills training, work experience, intensive job search or employment.
The first JOBS sanction will last at least one month, the second at least 90 days and the third for the duration of the 48-month period. These sanctions will be applied only when a parent demonstrates continued non-compliance with the contract. The sanctions will be applied even if only one parent in a two-parent household refuses to cooperate.
Cases terminated from AFDC because of employment will be eligible to receive transitional Medicaid for two years. Such families will also be eligible for transitional child care for two years.

Provisions of the Time-Limited, Alternative Benefit program are:

The provisions are the same as for the Time Limited High Disregards program except that recipients will have somewhat higher benefits, but with no increase in earned income disregards.

Mary Jo Bane, HHS' assistant secretary for children and families, said, "We will be looking closely at the results of Nebraska's program because it addresses requirements for achieving economic independence: education, training, work experience and employment, as well as transitional health and child care benefits for those who move from welfare to work."

Implementation will begin in two counties. After a year, the state will begin to expand the project statewide. The demonstration will begin July 1 and will operate for seven years. A rigorous evaluation will be included in the demonstration.

###

This article comes from Science Blog. Copyright ï¿½ 2004
http://www.scienceblog.com/community

Archives A