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Boston Globe
22-05-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
With the big, ugly bill, the rich get richer and everybody else pays
Advertisement Even after people at the bottom of the ladder get hosed, those tax cuts (plus big boosts in funding for defense and so-called border security) are projected to Hey, it's all for a noble cause: Remaking the country into a GOP utopia, where the rich get more handouts, and the poor have only themselves to blame. To sell this money grab, Republicans are using a tactic that has worked ever since Advertisement 'If you don't want to work, you're the one that decided you don't want health care,' You tell 'em, Senator! Scott and his fellow-travelers deplore those who abuse the system. Never mind that most Medicare fraud happens on the provider side. Or that Scott himself once headed a hospital chain States like ours have pretty good systems to catch all kinds of fraud, which, ' $20 billion budget for Medicaid, known here as MassHealth, in 2024. Be that as it may, Republicans want to introduce Medicaid work requirements that will finally get the freeloaders off their butts. Let's take a closer look at these miscreants, shall we? Of the 2 million people who get MassHealth to cover their medical care, Republicans are using a problem that barely exists to kick millions out of the system, and proposing a so-called solution that doesn't work anyway. In Advertisement In addition to the work requirements, the giant bill being debated in Washington means Massachusetts would lose billions more in Medicaid funding in coming years – as punishment for The thing is, the medical needs of those kicked off MassHealth won't go away. They'll just get worse, more deadly, and more expensive for everyone. They'll get dealt with in emergency rooms already at their breaking points. And they'll put the squeeze on struggling health centers, hospitals and, ultimately, state budgets. 'These are cuts that are going to impact the entire program, and have a ripple effect across the Massachusetts economy,' said Kate Symmonds, senior health law attorney at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute. 'It will reduce revenues for community health centers, hospitals, and medical providers, and it will destabilize our health industry.' Guy Fish, CEO of Codman Square Health Center, has a good idea how much it will cost if Republicans get their way on Medicaid. His Dorchester health center serves about 26,000 patients each year, almost all of them Fish said his MassHealth patients are often working multiple part time jobs with no benefits, and that even then, some have to be convinced to apply for the program. Advertisement 'The narrative couldn't be more wrong,' he said. 'These are hard working people, some who don't know how to access the system.' Kicking them off MassHealth won't make them any healthier. 'They will still have medical needs, and if they can't see us, where are they going to go,' he said. 'The state will have to pick that up, or they are not going to be seen, so they are going to be sicker and end up in emergency rooms. You pay more later for not paying for coverage now.' If Codman loses funding from MassHealth, that will mean staff cuts. Unemployment ripples out into families, and to local businesses, because fewer people have money to spend. The whole community will be worse off. 'There is a whole domino effect that happens here,' Fish said. 'And the tragedy is, it is not just in Massachusetts or blue states, but in red states too. There are community health centers in every single state… including deep red ones.' Those states will be left holding the bag, pulling money from education and transportation and law enforcement to make up the shortfalls. Ah yes, but by then, the billionaires' pockets will be even fatter. Downright evil. Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham can be reached at
Boston Globe
24-04-2025
- Boston Globe
With SNAP theft rising, parents struggle to feed their families
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Hines, 46, was going through a severe depression that left her unable to continue working full-time as a personal care attendant when she received her first round of SNAP benefits in January. With only 57 cents left on her card after she discovered the funds were gone, and a month to go until the next deposit, Hines went to food pantries for noodles, bread, cheese, and soup to feed herself and two sons. Advertisement 'I was so happy to have that money and for it to be gone in … a blink of an eye, I felt like somebody stabbed me in the heart,' she said. 'To me it felt like a million dollars — $600, I can feed my kids.' Advertisement Roughly 7,800 Massachusetts families have had more than $3.6 million stolen from their accounts since mid-December, according to the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, an advocacy group for low-income families. The rate of thefts is on the rise, currently draining about $1 million a month from residents' accounts, MLRI said; all told, roughly $18 million in SNAP funds have been stolen from state residents over the past three years. Criminals have been skimming data from electronic benefits transfer cards loaded with SNAP benefits since at least 2021, The funds can then be deposited into an account or transferred to a cloned card to make bulk purchases of items that can easily be resold. In fiscal years 2023 and 2024, more than $220 million in SNAP funds were stolen nationwide, 'It's our understanding that they are part of an organized crime ring,' said Birabwa Kajubi, associate commissioner for quality management at the state Department of Transitional Assistance, which administers SNAP benefits and works with the Skimming has become a major issue for consumers of all types. Last summer, Advertisement In November, the Springfield Police Department issued But credit and debit card holders have largely been shielded from fraud by federal protections, and most of those cards have been equipped with chips for a decade. These protections don't apply to EBT cards, however. Equipping EBT cards with chips, which generate a unique transaction code for each purchase and make it much more difficult to steal information, is the 'most promising systemic solution,' Kajubi said. In January, California became the first state to issue chip EBT cards, and Governor Maura Healey recently allocated In late November, DTA rolled out a tool that allows SNAP recipients to lock their accounts using an app or online portal. But as Hines's experience shows, funds can be drained quickly — sometimes minutes after they're deposited in recipients' accounts. Adding pressure to the situation is the fact that the SNAP program is facing cuts of up to Advocates are pushing the state, which previously dedicated around $3 million to supplement federal replacement funds, to allocate Advertisement 'While we see more and more devastating cuts coming from the Trump administration and Congress, it's clear we cannot rely on the federal government to support our residents as they previously did to replace stolen SNAP benefits,' said Kennedy, a Democrat. Until chip cards are in place, families whose benefits are stolen need help to feed their families, said Victoria Negus, senior economic justice advocate at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute. Parents have told about skipping meals to feed their children and counting out change to buy a gallon of milk. 'I learned my SNAP was stolen when trying to purchase a full cart of groceries at Market Basket,' one said. 'We are hungry. We have no food. We did not eat yesterday.' The government finger-pointing has been 'infuriating,' Negus said: 'State government pointing at federal government, federal government pointing at state, and nobody has systemically taken the steps that families need to put them on equal footing in the checkout line.' Hines, who has been careful to lock her card since her account was drained, is still worried about feeding her family, especially with the economy in turmoil and tariffs threatening to raise prices even higher. 'Things are very expensive now,' she said. 'You spend $100 and you're getting a bag of groceries and it's not feeding you for a week. … If things go any higher, I don't even know what we are going to do.' Advertisement This story was produced by the Globe's team, which covers the racial wealth gap in Greater Boston. You can sign up for the newsletter . Katie Johnston can be reached at
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Advocates and organizations gather on Beacon Hill for homeless legislative action day
BOSTON (WWLP) – Dozens of activists, providers, and organizations gathered in the Great Hall of Flags on Monday, pushing for resources that prevent families and individuals from becoming homeless and resources for those who are actively experiencing homelessness. This legislative session, advocates are focusing on a rental assistance homelessness prevention program and eliminating fiscal barriers to getting Massachusetts ID cards, as concerns deepen about the impact of federal funding cuts. 'I think given the difficult federal situation that we're in, we really are counting on Massachusetts to be the values-driven place that we all expect it to be,' Andrea Park, a housing and homelessness lawyer for the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, told 22News. One organization, Bridge Over Troubled Waters, provides resources spanning from rent subsidies to behavioral health counseling to career development for homeless young adults. While the organization is based in Boston, it welcomes young adults from across the states to take advantage of its programs and services. 'Any young people in Springfield, don't give up on yourself…please keep your head up…and call, there are safe places programs all over,' said Bridge Over Troubled Waters' President and CEO, Elisabeth Jackson. Jackson told 22News that the best thing homeless young adults can do for themselves is ask for help and make use of the available resources. Advocates pushed for budget funding and state support for homeless individuals of all ages and emphasized the additional challenges facing the very young and the very old. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Boston Globe
15-03-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
German national detained by ICE after arriving at Logan Airport, family says
A week into his detention, Astrid Senior, Schmidt's mother, who lives in Lyndeborough, N.H., said the family was still seeking answers about why her son is being held. 'I'm feeling shaken up,' Senior said, stressing the point that her son was here legally. 'It's unbelievable what's happening now.' Advertisement This case, involving the apprehension of a legal permanent resident with few answers available, is the latest instance of unusual immigration enforcement under the new Trump administration, which has pledged a hard line on immigration. Schmidt's case is part of News of his arrest comes after Rhode Island doctor at Brown Medicine Rasha Alawieh, who had traveled to Lebanon to see her parents, In the labyrinth of immigration law, each of these cases has slight but significant differences. Schmidt faced misdemeanor drug and drinking charges years ago and was allegedly flagged by immigration authorities for failing to show up to court in 2022, while Alawieh and Khalil do not appear to have criminal records in the country. Schmidt's family says he has faced no new legal issues since he was granted a new green card, and that his failure to show up in court wasn't an issue during the renewal process. Advertisement Schmidt and Alawieh's cases also differ from Khalil's because they were reentering the country, which put them in vulnerable positions, according to immigration attorney Heather Yountz of the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute. A visa is a request for entry, but does not guarantee it, and people entering on visas can be subject to additional screening. Someone with a green card can typically just present it and enter unless it's flagged for some sort of violation. 'You are more vulnerable when you're seeking to enter the United States than you are when you're in the United States,' she said. Related : That's why, she said, the actions against Khalil were shocking: He seemed to be stripped of his green card while in the US because of his political opinions. 'He was in a much more legally secure situation,' she said, noting that the constitutional right to free speech applies to everyone in the US. People with work visas and green cards are heavily vetted, with background checks and fingerprinting, said Boston-based immigration attorney Annelise Araujo. To get a green card, applicants are checked against all the federal agencies to make sure there's nothing that would make them inadmissible which could include specific criminal issues or national-security concerns. All three of these detentions, she said, are 'going to have a chilling effect on who wants to come here, and who wants to study here, and who wants to work on our hospitals.' US Customs and Border Protection would not provide answers about Schmidt's case, citing federal privacy concerns. Border protection officers determine admissibility of foreign nationals on a case-by-case basis, according to the law, and treat travelers with professionalism, agency officials said. Advertisement 'If statutes or visa terms are violated, travelers may be subject to detention and removal,' Hilton Beckham, assistant commissioner of public affairs, said in a statement Saturday. No charging documents against Schmidt have yet been filed with the Justice Department's Executive Office of Immigration Review, which operates the immigration courts. Schmidt, who works as an electrical engineer, was returning from a week-long trip visiting his father in Germany when he was stopped by immigration officials at Logan on March 7, his mother said. Bhavani Hodgkins, Schmidt's girlfriend, waited for hours for him to come out of the airport that night so they could return home to Nashua. Hodgkins said she eventually spoke with US Customs and Border Patrol officials who told her Schmidt was being held indefinitely and she should go home. Hodgkins said she called for updates every day and was eventually told by immigration officials that Schmidt had been sent a letter in 2022 asking him to appear in court, why exactly is unclear. Schmidt never got the letter, Hodgkins said. And his failure to appear in court was not flagged in 2023 when he applied and received a new green card, after misplacing his previous one, Hodgkins said. 'He was never informed there was problems,' Hodgkins said. Most green cards are valid for 10 years. According to his family, Schmidt has struggled with drug and alcohol addiction in the past. He has been charged with misdemeanors, including possession of a controlled substance, driving under the influence, hunting without a license, and failure to appear for jail, while he lived in California, according to court records. Advertisement Court records show that Schmidt has attended recovery programs, paid small fines, and was placed on probation to resolve his cases. There are no current charges against him, Hodgkins said. Related : 'He suffered from his own demons,' she said. But he went into rehab when he moved to New Hampshire in 2022 and has been 'dedicated to his own sobriety,' Hodgkins said. She and Senior said that Schmidt has complained about his treatment in detention. He fell ill while being held by immigration authorities and collapsed, they said. Hodgkins said Schmidt told her that he was taken to the hospital in handcuffs and tested positive for the flu. According to Massachusetts State Police, Schmidt was taken to a Boston hospital from the customs area of the international terminal at Logan Airport on Monday morning. Tim McGuirk, a spokesman for the State Police, said CBP officers accompanied him to the hospital 'as they were not able to process the individual through customs' beforehand. He referred further questions to customs and border patrol officials. Customs officials could not provide information Saturday afternoon about why Schmidt was taken to the hospital and where he was held between his scheduled arrival on March 7 and the hospital trip on March 10. Schmidt was moved to the Wyatt Detention facility on Tuesday, his family said. Officials with the German consulate in Boston have spoken to Schmidt's families and authorities. 'The Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Boston is aware of the case and has been in close contact about it with the relevant US authorities as well as with the family of the concerned person,' a spokesman for the German Embassy in Washington. Advertisement 'He was not given fair treatment,' Hodgkins said. 'This is unjust and very painful for us as a family.' Deirdre Fernandes can be reached at
Boston Globe
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Families in emergency shelters need long-term solutions
I went on to overcome homelessness, but I can't not forget the harm imposed by his choices, which each day left me in fear of whether I would have a roof over my head. For the thousands of homeless families that remained in flux, I hoped that a new governor would work to strengthen the state's shelter program. But with Governor Maura Healey, the emergency shelter program continues to be at risk. Countless families today depend on the Emergency Assistance shelter program to survive. This crucial program is a lifeline for families on the brink of or experiencing homelessness, giving them help before the cycle of poverty takes hold. Over the past year, however, the program has been pushed to capacity, the result of a growing in Massachusetts amid a housing crisis that has also pushed residents into state-funded shelters. Yet instead of focusing on addressing family homelessness, policy makers have begun Some have proposed rescinding the 'right-to-shelter' law, which guarantees homeless families access to emergency shelter. Healey has Advertisement Families with children, irrespective of citizenship, have been forced to These families need real solutions that prevent or interrupt homelessness, rather than arbitrary limits on their ability to access resources. For example, HomeBASE is a often spend more weeks in shelter than necessary because of bureaucratic Advertisement In light of the housing affordability crisis, policy makers need to better utilize vacant subsidized housing. such housing because they are unable to meet stringent eligibility requirements. Further, policy makers must invest more in eviction prevention resources, like the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition The solution to the surge in family homelessness does not lie in removing one of the few safety nets available to homeless families. It necessitates Furthermore, the root of this shelter crisis is the shortage of affordable housing in the state. Instead of destroying the family shelter system, our policy makers must protect it — and then expand their efforts beyond it — to end family homelessness once and for all. For all its flaws, the family shelter system provided my family with a roof when we needed it the most. It gave me the space to build a better future for myself, even under the worst circumstances, that led to my becoming a housing attorney. The thousands of homeless children in the Commonwealth deserve that same chance. Advertisement Timothy Scalona is a staff attorney in the Housing Unit at Greater Boston Legal Services and a board member at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute.
