Corbett backs reevaluation of food-stamp asset test

PHILADELPHIA Gov. Corbett said Wednesday he would take into consideration the state public welfare secretary's announcement that she was "rethinking" the food-stamp asset test, a measure that links federal benefits people receive to their bank accounts and car ownership.

He made the comments when asked about the issue at a news conference promoting his "Healthy Pennsylvania" initiative.

On Tuesday, Department of Public Welfare Secretary Beverly Mackereth told members of The Inquirer Editorial Board she was rethinking the asset test, adding: "My focus is not on waste. My primary focus is on getting services to people who are entitled to them."

The test, adopted in spring 2012, requires households with people under age 60 to be limited to $5,000 in assets in order to qualify for food stamps, now known as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).

Households with people 60 and older, or a person with a disability, are limited to assets of $9,000.

Houses, retirement benefits, and one car are not counted as assets under the test. Any additional car worth more than $4,650 is counted as an asset.

Speaking at a news conference at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in North Philadelphia, Corbett said he had not taken a position on the matter but would take Mackereth's remarks into consideration.

"I think we always should be reevaluating," Corbett said. "We shouldn't be locked into any one position."

He added that Mackereth "has a different set of eyes taking a look at it, and I will certainly take into consideration what she has to say."

Nationally, critics have described the asset test as a punishment to people working to get themselves out of poverty by saving money, and as especially detrimental to the elderly.

On the other hand, some conservatives like the idea of limiting SNAP benefits to people who have large savings. In Pennsylvania, however, it turned out that although 4,000 households were found to have too much money to get food stamps during the first 12 months of the test, more than 111,000 households that did qualify for SNAP benefits didn't get them because the asset test added a level of bureaucracy they couldn't navigate.

Corbett was at St. Christopher's to reiterate that he recently signed a measure reauthorizing the state's Children's Health Insurance Program and that he called for the elimination of the six-month waiting period for enrollment in the plan.

He said the change sends the message "that here in Pennsylvania, we take care of our own."

Inquirer staff writer Alfred Lubrano contributed to this article.