And Protecting the Safety Net for the Truly Needy
The Foundation for Government Accountability has released a memo with 12 recommendations for moving Alaskans off welfare and back into work, which will protect the welfare safety net for the truly needy. The recommendations are:
- Reinstate work requirements in SNAP for able-bodied adults with no dependents.
- Establish work/community engagement requirement for able-bodied adults 50-59 years old on SNAP with no dependents.
- Establish a work/community engagement requirement for able-bodied parents on SNAP who have only school-aged children in the household.
- Lower the lifetime limit for TANF benefits from five years to three years.
- Include an intermittent time limit in the TANF program to prevent chronic dependency.
- Adopt work/community engagement requirements for able-bodied adults on Medicaid.
- Require full change reporting in SNAP to ensure all changes are reported in a timely manner.
- Monitor and stop inappropriate out of state electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card use and remove non-residents.
- Require additional verification of household composition for Medicaid eligibility.
- Check income sources, vital records, and other data to verify Medicaid eligibility.
- Redetermine the eligibility of Medicaid cases more than once annually.
- Disenroll and impose a lockout period for recipients in the Medicaid program for failure to report changes in a timely manner.
The memo goes into detail on how and why these recommendations would work for Alaska, and next steps for implementation. See below for the full report, or click here to open the PDF.
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The Foundation for Government Accountability is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that helps millions achieve the American dream by improving welfare, work, and health care policy in the states and in Washington, D.C.