A colleague with great expertise in income support policies and programs told me yesterday that he had just learned that the US Department of Agriculture, which administers the Food Stamps program, will be counting the Medicare Part D pharmaceutical benefit as income to low income Food Stamps beneficiaries. More "income" means lower benefits.
He's researching it and I will too, but he's usually got this stuff nailed.
What's it mean? The more Medicare pays for drugs, the less Food Stamps you get. Worse, if true, the Food Stamp benefit will change monthly based on what Medicare spent for drugs in a prior period. Mind you, because of the way Food Stamps work, there may still be a positive net benefit. But this will be an administrative morass as well as making the lives of beneficiaries more uncertain.
The Administration giveth and the Administration taketh away.
John -
Your friend is correct. There was some 'guidance' distributed a while back on this and I'll send you the official Pdf.
One wishes the stinginess of this administration would extend to oil companies and companies doing no-bid work in Iraq....
RICK
Posted by: Rick Stevens | May 26, 2005 at 08:14 PM