Published: November 02, 2008 01:16 am      

‘Staying Afloat in Tough Times’

States attempting to do more to help low-income families

FAIRMONT — In a recent study, the National Center for Children in Poverty examined how economic hardships can threaten families and why state-level policies are so important.

NCCP, which has been around for almost 20 years ago, is a policy research organization located at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. The center focuses on family economic security as well as the health and well-being of families and children with low incomes.

Sarah Fass, Jodie Briggs and Nancy Cauthen of NCCP wrote a report titled “Staying Afloat in Tough Times: What States Are and Aren’t Doing to Promote Family Economic Security.” Their study was published in August, along with family economic security profiles for each state.

According to their research, Rhode Island has the lowest percentage — 4 percent — of children without health insurance, while Texas has the highest at 21 percent. Eleven percent of adults in Hawaii lack health insurance, compared to 30 percent in Texas. On average across the country, 20 percent of adults and 12 percent of kids don’t have health insurance.

The report stated that the median household income for a four-person family in the United States is $70,000. In New Mexico, the median income is $52,000, while it’s $94,000 in New Jersey.

Nationally, 11 percent of households are forced to decrease the amount of food they eat, change their eating habits or go without of food because they can’t afford it. The percentage of food insecurity is 18 percent in Mississippi and 6 percent in North Dakota.

Sarah Fass, policy associate with the Family Economic Security team at NCCP, said the “Staying Afloat in Tough Times” study was based on seeing economic conditions worsen for families across the nation. With stagnant or declining wages combined with rising costs, parents have been struggling to afford basic necessities and families are having trouble paying for health care.

“We’ve observed all these trends, and we were very concerned about the profound effect that economic hardship can have on children,” Fass said.

She said financial difficulties can contribute to behavioral and social problems in children and can affect their health and ability to learn.

“Economic hardship can really harm our nation’s children,” Fass said. “Our nation’s children are our future, so we certainly don’t want to do things that are going to be harmful to their health and well being.”

Poor financial conditions don’t just affect children and families, but can also have an impact on the U.S. economy as a whole, she said.

The report stated the following: “The bottom line is that low wages, few quality jobs with employer-provided benefits, limited routes to advancements, the increased costs of basic expenses, minimal savings, and increased debt have left large numbers of American workers and their families economically vulnerable. Many such families are merely one crisis — a serious illness, job loss, or divorce — away from financial devastation.”

“In short, the economic challenges faced by low-wage workers have consequences for their children, whose future prospects depend on the security their parents can provide for them while they are children. This requires paying attention to the inadequacies of low-wage work and what it means for families.”

NCCP wanted to find out what actions states were taking to help low-income families. In their report, Fass, Briggs and Cauthen examined three different categories of policies that are critical in promoting family economic security.

Work attachment and advancement is the ability of parents to find and maintain employment, and this category deals with child care assistance, public health insurance and unemployment benefits. The second classification — income adequacy — looks into policies that work at low wages, such as those that decrease tax burdens, give paid leave and provide income tax credit. The last segment is asset development and protection, which is a key component for family economic security and essential to plan for the future and emergencies.

“We found that over the past decade or so the policy effort to address economic hardship really does vary across the states,” Fass said. “States really have taken the lead in terms of being innovative on efforts to address economic hardship.”

She said the policy landscape across the country is uneven.

States can create various programs to help families avoid and cope with economic difficulties, Fass said. They can use state funds to increase access to child care assistance and public health insurance, raise the state minimum wage, or implement state tax credits.

She said a small handful of states have experimented with measures that provide paid family or medical leave benefits. Some states offer incentives for low-income families to save and accumulate assets.

When it comes to child-care subsidies, not very many states give access to families with incomes at 200 percent of the federal poverty level or more. While the majority of states have created a child and dependent care tax credit, most of them don’t provide benefits to low-income families.

In regard to public health insurance for children, 41 states have designated that a family’s earnings must be at or above 200 percent of the federal poverty level to be eligible. Children generally face higher income eligibility requirements than parents for public health insurance. Also, unemployment insurance isn’t typically very inclusive of workers with low wages.

Refundable earned income tax credits exist in 21 states. About 50 percent of states have established a minimum wage that is more than the federal wage. In half of the states, households are exempt from state income taxes if their earnings are below the official poverty level.

Overall, the researchers were surprised by the findings, Fass said.

“I think that we were impressed by how much the states have done in the last decade,” she said. “States have really stepped up to the plate in terms of helping their low-income families.”

The report cited five states that have especially made progress in public health insurance, child care assistance, and tax policies and have used new approaches to improve these policy areas. Illinois, New York, Washington, Maryland and New Mexico were recognized for their efforts.

“We concluded that really it’s time for more action at the federal level,” Fass said.

She said the states can only do so much without help from the federal government. NCCP is looking forward to seeing federal assistance that focuses on the challenges that low-income families face.

To access the report, visit www.nccp.org/profiles/fes.html.

E-mail Jessica Legge at jlegge@timeswv.com.