Nearly a week has passed since SNAP benefits were paused due to the government shutdown. Almost 900,000 Arizonans rely on SNAP for food, including thousands of paid caregivers who work in long-term care.
Paid caregivers work with older adults and people with disabilities. Many of them rely on public assistance to make ends meet, including programs like SNAP.
According to PHI, a national organization that supports paid caregivers, 24% of those who provide home care rely on SNAP, and roughly a third are enrolled in Medicaid.
Those figures improve slightly for caregivers who work in care homes — like assisted living — 19% are on food stamps and more than a quarter rely on Medicaid.
The median hourly wage for all direct care workers in Arizona is $17.94.
-
That's especially true in the Mountain West. In most states, if one delivery unit shuts down, the next closest one is more than an hour away. -
More than 30,000 refugees, asylees and other legally present immigrants in Arizona could lose health coverage in a few weeks as new Medicaid eligibility rules take effect. -
Under the proposed changes, there’d be a cap on how much money Head Start centers could spend on administrative overhead; there would also be a reduction in the number of regulations governing the program, among other changes. -
Right now, nearly Arizona 300 schools qualify for a federal program that allows schools that serve low income households to give free lunches to every student — without making them apply for it. -
It's also unclear how many have lost coverage because some state agencies that run the programs are overwhelmed trying to keep up with changes. That was the case in Arizona, which saw the nation's largest enrollment drop.
