New Trump administration rule could deny green cards to immigrants using SNAP
The Trump administration announced a rule on Monday that would allow federal officials to deny green cards and visa extensions to legal immigrants who have used certain public assistance programs, including food assistance.
Rural hospitals could close if healthcare reform cuts Medicaid
Some 700 rural hospitals, which serve a largely older, sicker, and poorer population than most U.S. hospitals, are at risk of closing. Now, with the cuts to Medicaid being considered in Washington as part of the healthcare debate, their prospects could be even darker.
Obama to seek $12 billion to expand summer food program for kids
President Obama will ask Congress for a long-term expansion of the summer food program so it reaches every child - roughly 22 million at latest count - who gets lunch for free or at reduced price during the school year, the White House announced. At present, only one in six of those low-income schoolchildren is covered by the summer food program.
Medicaid gap is larger for rural residents
Two-thirds of rural Americans without health insurance live in states that decided against an expansion of Medicaid, the Daily Yonder said, based on material from the Kaiser Family Foundation. For urban residents, half of the uninsured in states that did not expand Medicaid, a lower rate. The uninsured rate is 18 percent for both rural and urban areas, with 47 million people lacking health insurance, says the Yonder.
House GOP to propose food stamp block grant again
House Budget chairman Paul Ryan will propose converting food stamps into a block grant program for the states to run, Roll Call says in a preview of Ryan's budget resolution for fiscal 2015.