Holes in the Work Support Fabric

1
Holes in the Work Support Fabric

• Evidence of Low Multiple Program Participation in
  Wisconsin

2
Work Support Programs in WI

• Wisconsin ( Federal) EITC
• Wisconsin Shares (subsidized child care)
• Medical Assistance, including BadgerCare
  (SCHIP)

3
Other WI Support Programs

• Food Stamps
• Homestead Credit (property tax circuit breaker)

4
Effect of Program Participation(Single Parent, 2
Children)
5
Q How fully are work support (and other income
support) programs utilized?
A No readily available answer

• Why?
• Information in multiple, unlinked data sets.

6
Some Answers from a Unique Matched Data Set

• For 2000
• All Wisconsin tax filers linked to
• All Wisconsin public benefits recipients linked
  to
• Unemployment insurance wage reports

7
Source of Data forProgram Participants
8
Number of Participating Households
9
Most Frequent Participation Patterns Overall

• Homestead Credit only (147,903) if elderly,
  possibly Medicaid, too
• Wisconsin EITC only (84,876)
• Medicaid only (39,586) non-elderly, non-SSI
• Food Stamps only (32,931)
• Medicaid Food Stamps (25,859)
• EITC Medicaid (23,221)
• EITC Medicaid Food Stamps child care
  (19,789)
• EITC Medicaid Food Stamps (19,032)

10
Multiple Program Participation Among an Eligible
Population

• Single Parents with 2 Children
• Annual Income
• 7,000 - 13,000
• (full participation 75 of necessities
  budget)
• 13,000 - 18,000
• (full participation 100 of necessities
  budget)

11
Percentage Participating(Single Parents, 2
Children)
12
Variance by number of children(Single Parents)
13
Variance by Marital Status(Single Parents, 2
Children)
14
If claiming subsidized child care(single
parents, 2 children, 7,000 - 18,000)
15
If claiming Medicaid(single parents, 2 children,
7,000 - 18,000)
16
If claiming Food Stamps(single parents, 2
children, 7,000 - 18,000)
17
If claiming Wisconsin EITC(single parents, 2
children, 7,000 - 18,000)
18
Steps in Progress -- Programmatic

• Increased cross-agency cooperation
• More aggressive identification of eligibility
  for multiple programs
• Food Stamps changes
• Transitional benefits, reduced change reported
• PAR up from 56 in 2000 to 62 in 2003
• Expanded categorical eligibility
• Medicaid changes to increase participation
• Milwaukee screening for public benefits
  eligibility among VITA tax filers
• Homestead filing simplifications possible

19
Steps in Progress -- Research

• Creation of duplicate matched data sets for
  2001 2002
• Improve accuracy of findings
• Assess trends
• Employ longitudinal analysis
• Departmental efforts to identify
  characteristics associated with
  non-participation