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Poor hurt by Corbett cuts

AS HIS critics see it, Gov. Corbett has declared war on Pennsylvania's poor. At a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in February to discuss the administration's proposed $629 million in cuts for the state's public-welfare agency next year, state Sen. Vincent Hughes, D-Philadelphia, said the proposed cuts were "downright cruel," adding that "this administration is putting its foot on the neck of poor folks."

AS HIS critics see it, Gov. Corbett has declared war on Pennsylvania's poor.

At a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in February to discuss the administration's proposed $629 million in cuts for the state's public-welfare agency next year, state Sen. Vincent Hughes, D-Philadelphia, said the proposed cuts were "downright cruel," adding that "this administration is putting its foot on the neck of poor folks."

The proposed cuts come on top of $600 million in cuts to public-welfare spending in the current budget. Last August, thousands of children began disappearing from the state's Medicaid rolls.

Corbett spokesman Kevin Harley blasted Hughes for using what he said was "belligerent rhetoric" and championing "tax-and-spend policies."

Rather than a war on the poor, Harley said the main issue was "reining in spending" that was out of control.

"For every two employed Pennsylvanians, we have one person receiving some form of welfare benefit. That ratio is unsustainable," Harley said.

Corbett also is proposing more stringent standards for food-stamp recipients. The administration wants to reinstate an asset test for those individuals. Anyone under the age of 60 who has more than $5,500 in savings or assets would no longer qualify. Individuals 60 and older and/or disabled who have $9,000 in savings would no longer qualify.

Last year, a state health insurance program for the working poor became the first victim of Corbett's budget ax. In February 2011, the administration pulled the plug on adultBasic, which insured 42,000 working-poor Pennsylvanians, including more than 6,100 in Philly.

The administration said the program - which provided inexpensive health insurance for those who earned too much to qualify for Medicaid - was not financially sustainable.

Six months after the program ended, a study by the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center found that less than 40 percent of those who were insured by adultBasic had enrolled in Medicaid or Special Care, a more expensive program offered by private health insurers.