State Budget: On March 7, Governor Shapiro outlined his proposed state budget for fiscal year 2023-2024. While this is just the first step, Governor Shapiro included some provisions that would support Pennsylvanians experiencing food insecurity. These provisions include increasing the minimum SNAP benefit, extending the universal free school breakfast program, increasing the minimum wage, and more.

Medicaid Continuous Coverage Ending: Since March 2020, states have been required to maintain Medical Assistance, also known as Medicaid, coverage and barred terminations for most enrollees. Starting April 1, this continuous coverage requirement will end. States will start sending out renewals, and families will be responsible for filling them out in order to keep their coverage.

A single mother of four needed to complete her SNAP Annual Renewal and called our Hotline asking for assistance. This client did not have a social security number, so it was very difficult to submit a renewal through the usual system. Instead, our SNAP Hotline Manager completed and submitted a new application for this client and requested that the County Assistance Office (CAO) process it as her renewal. The CAO accepted this, and we were able to ensure this client's benefits continued uninterrupted.