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INCOME & WORK SUPPORTS UPDATE
OCTOBER 2020

Before Pandemic 1 Million People Lost Health Insurance. Without the ACA, Losses Would Be Greater

Census data show that one million people lost health insurance in 2019, including more than 300,000 children. Those most likely to be uninsured were Black or Hispanic, reflecting systemic barriers to health insurance for these groups. Without the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the situation would be even more dire.

California Takes Step to Expand EITC Access for Immigrants

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is an effective anti-poverty program that has bipartisan support. But some working people and families are denied access to this tax refund because of their immigration status. Under California’s AB 1876, the CalEITC will now be available to all immigrant tax filers.

A Pandemic within a Pandemic: How Coronavirus and Systemic Racism Are Harming Infants and Toddlers of Color

Even before the pandemic, far too many infants, toddlers, and their families faced significant adversity during the early critical years. This brief unpacks the impacts of systemic racism on children’s development and describes how the coronavirus pandemic has magnified pervasive inequities in health, education, employment, and other factors across race and ethnicity.

IWS Updates

September has been a challenging time for many in our country, with natural disasters, COVID-19 deaths climbing past 200,000, and growing evidence of a “k-shaped recovery” that is no recovery at all for renters, communities with low incomes and people of color. We are angry about the lack of justice for Breonna Taylor and deeply frustrated by the Senate’s continued failure to enact meaningful additional COVID relief. We honor the memory of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and are concerned at the prospect of a Supreme Court that could undermine or even entirely overturn the Affordable Care Act or support the Trump Administration’s public charge rule. One bright note in the overall gloom is the Continuing Resolution, which extends Pandemic-EBT for all of 2021 and also makes it available to children in Puerto Rico and the territories, as well as to younger children whose child care is closed.

Madison Allen will be leaving the IWS team on October 9 to join the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust in her home state of North Carolina as a Senior Health Improvement Program Officer with a goal of improving health care access and health outcomes through racially equitable grantmaking. During her time as CLASP. Madison has provided leadership to the Protecting Immigrant Families campaign, dedicating a large share of her time to support the campaign’s growth from a few dozen groups to over 500 organizations representing diverse sectors united by the belief that our collective well-being depends on all of us being healthy and safe. We will miss her but know that she will do great things for the people of NC.

In the News

Incomes were up and poverty was down across America in 2019 — and then COVID-19 hit

COVID-19 — include immigrant families and children in relief effort

Events

Medicaid Administrative Advocacy 101

OCTOBER 1, 4pm ET

Suzanne Wikle will be presenting on this webinar, part of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ new Elevating the Medicaid Enrollment Experience project. Beyond eligibility criteria, states have flexibility in how applications are processed, affecting how applicants enroll and stay enrolled in Medicaid. Webinar attendees will hear about why engaging in administrative advocacy is important to improve access to Medicaid, how states differ in their approach to operating the Medicaid program, and advocacy wins that have improved the Medicaid application and enrollment process. Register here.

Human Needs Heroes Event
OCTOBER 7, 5.30pm ET

The Protecting Immigrant Families campaign is one of the groups being honored as Human Needs Heroes by the Coalition on Human Needs -- we’d love to see you there.