Letters to Governors Food Stamp Recipients Leaving TANF

Copies of the following letter were sent to all governors to request that States help ensure that food stamp recipients who who left the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Medicaid programs know that they may still be eligible for food stamps, and can reapply.

July 12, 2000

The Honorable Thomas R. Carper
Governor of Delaware
Legislative Hall
Dover, Delaware 19901

Dear Tom:

With the implementation of welfare reform, many families have been able to move to self-sufficiency and welfare roles have declined dramatically. While this is a success story we can all be proud of, I am concerned with the concurrent decline in Food Stamp Program participation. Between 1995 and 1998, food stamp participation fell three times as fast as poverty, suggesting that many poor families have left the program despite their continuing eligibility. The Food Stamp Program is an important support as families make the transition from welfare to full self-sufficiency.

Unfortunately, many families that have left the rolls of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Program are unaware that they may continue to be eligible for food stamps. I am asking for your help in our effort to ensure that all families in need of nutritional assistance have access to this vitally important program. In addition, I am also seeking your help in assuring that mothers and their eligible young children are aware of the nutritional benefits of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

On April 7, 2000, the Director of the Health Care Financing Administration’s Center for Medicaid and State Operations took action to address concerns about families in the Medicaid program. He issued a letter to State Medicaid directors that, among other things, asks States to identify and reinstate individuals who have been terminated improperly from Medicaid.

As your State takes steps to identify and reinstate those families that have been improperly terminated from Medicaid, I urge you to have your staff review the potential eligibility of these families for food assistance and, as appropriate, provide them with the information they may need to apply. In this way, I hope we can reach those individuals and families who may be unaware of their eligibility for valuable nutrition assistance, such as the Food Stamp Program and WIC.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter. I look forward to working with you to improve the nutrition of needy individuals and families.

Sincerely,

/S/

DAN GLICKMAN
Secretary

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