MOUNT VERNON — As the COVID-19 public health emergency nears its end, eligible families and individuals risk losing Medicaid coverage and SNAP food stamp benefits through a process often called “unwinding.”
“The changes that are upon us do not necessarily affect everybody, but a lot of people accustomed to getting Medicaid or SNAP, if the benefits end depending on eligibility, that is going to be quite a disruption in the way they are providing for their families,” Scott Boone, director of Knox County Job & Family Services, said.
In March 2020, Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act as a way to support families during the COVID -19 public health emergency. Provisions of FFCRA included continuous enrollment of Medicaid beneficiaries and an emergency allotment of SNAP benefits (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).
The emergency allotment varied based on household size, but the minimum was an additional $95 per month. SNAP provisions also put a hold on work requirements and extended benefits to college students.
SNAP emergency allotments end Feb. 28. The Medicaid automatic enrollment ends March 31. Individuals will then have to re-enroll and meet eligibility requirements.
Knox County SNAP benefits totaled $688,059 in 2019 and covered 5,787 individuals in 2,862 families. At the end of January 2023, those numbers climbed to $1,453,784 in benefits for 5,384 individuals in 2,808 families.
The number of families stayed relatively stable in the intervening years, but the benefit amounts steadily rose.
Boon said that SNAP unwinding will particularly affect the elderly. Under the emergency allotment, seniors receive $281 a month. Prior to FFCRA, they received $23.
“That’s almost a $250 [reduction] in food stamps; that’s a pretty significant difference,” he said. “People are going to have to make some pretty significant adjustments.”
In 2019, 12,269 individuals received Medicaid in Knox County. In December 2022, that number was 15,529.
“That is a pretty significant increase over the last several years of individuals that were receiving Medicaid benefits,” Boone said. “As of today, that number includes 5,800 children.”
With the special SNAP and Medicaid provisions ending, social service organizations are bracing for the impact.
Backpacks of Hope provides weekend meals to nearly 140 students in the six Mount Vernon elementary schools as well as the Learning Center. Program Director Bill Pursel said the group anticipates seeing an increase for this school year.
So, too, does Capt. Christine Moretz at The Salvation Army.
“We anticipate the need is going to increase, so we are working to stock our pantries for the increased use of food pantries due to the decrease in available benefits for many of our friends and neighbors,” she said.
“We have also already experienced the decrease in just how far a dollar can stretch through our partnership with Mid-Ohio Food Bank as costs continue to increase. With the increased cost of groceries, especially meat and fresh produce, we have seen the need already increasing by a small margin.”
Moretz said that with all these factors, the Army will again look for the community to help one another by helping all local food banks reach those in need.
“Any food drives to collect canned goods, noodles, boxed meals, cereal, all kinds of soups or stews and canned meat/proteins will assist our pantry as well as our hot meal programs,” she said. “This can also assist all local food pantries to meet the needs of our neighbors and keep Knox County fed and cared for as we work together to serve our community.”
Carolyn Fergus, executive director for Interchurch Social Services, said ISS is taking a wait-and-see perspective.
“We are well stocked, and we get extra reclamation food from other places,” she said.
Reclamation food comes from partners such as Walmart, KFC, McDonald’s, Subway, and Baker’s IGA. ISS also supplements needs locally and can increase items in the semi-monthly orders placed with Mid-Ohio Food Bank.
Additionally, Fergus said ISS will monitor and adjust as needed the number of times clients can visit the food pantry.
“If we see an uptick, we will be ready,” she said.
Pam Palm, public information officer for Knox Public Health, said the unwinding of SNAP should not affect services at the Community Health Center since the center does not conduct any food service program. However, the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) program with Knox Public Health may see an increase in clients. Income-eligible families with children under age 5 could qualify for food assistance through WIC.
Relating to Medicaid unwinding, Palm said that more than 50 percent of patients at the Community Health Center use Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to pay for healthcare services. All of these patients should receive a letter from the Ohio JFS informing them of the end of automatic renewal and, if eligible, the need to re-enroll in their case plans.
“We will be reinforcing that message and can help patients with the process,” said Lane Belangia, CEO of the Community Health Center. “We can also help patients who no longer qualify for Medicaid to navigate the Healthcare Marketplace to get insurance.”
The health center has a sliding-fee scale for services and offers discounted costs for tests and screenings, but it is dependent on insurance coverage for sustainability.
“With inflation, if folks are needing to pay more for food, we do have programs to help with rent and utility assistance,” Pam Wright, community services administrator for Kno-Ho-Co-Ashland, said.
“We had a huge influx of COVID funding in 2020. Since 2020, we have been inundated with helping people in the community. The mortgage assistance has expired, but along with the rent and utility programs, we still have our regular assistance.”
Boone said JFS is working hard to ensure the department has valid addresses and to get the word out about the upcoming changes to SNAP and Medicaid.
“We know people move around a lot. They change addresses; they change phone numbers. We want to have good contact information for everybody. We don’t want them to be caught off guard,” he said. “For some of the folks who we don’t have a current address, this might not affect them; they might not need benefits anymore.
“But some do, and all of a sudden they’re not getting that deposit. When those moments arrive, we will be here for them and will help them the best we can.”
Boone it might take until February 2024 to get Medicaid unwinding entirely sorted out. Meanwhile, the goal is to provide individuals with resources: a list of alternate healthcare providers or a list of food pantries, for example.
“We want to make sure we put something in their hands to make sure they have something to back up what the government is taking away,” he said.
“We all go through times where our income fluctuates, or we reach a barrier when something you are receiving goes away. The advantage for most individuals is they have families or resources to fall back on. The families we serve don’t have those advantages. We want to be the resource that gets them back on the road and having a higher level of self-sufficiency and able to provide for themselves and their families.”
SNAP and Medicaid unwinding comes on the heels of the suspension of federal funding for free school lunches for all students. Last fall, schools reverted to the free or reduced lunch program as in previous years.
