Nutrition Consortium Praises New York State Assembly Social Services Committee for Continued Support of the Nutrition Outreach and Education Program

On December 15, 2009, the Nutrition Consortium of New York State testified at the New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Social Services Hearing. The topic of the hearing was "The Impact of the 2009-2010 State Budget on the Programs and Services of the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA)." The Nutrition Consortium spoke about the many benefits of OTDA's continued funding for the Nutrition Outreach and Education Program (NOEP) in 2009-2010. Here is an excerpt from the testimony:

"One of OTDA’s successful initiatives to increase access to nutrition assistance programs by eligible populations is the Nutrition Outreach and Education Program (NOEP). NOEP is funded by OTDA and the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH), and federally matched dollar for dollar by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Nutrition Consortium , as the statewide administrator of NOEP, would like to extend its most sincere thanks to the Assembly for its leadership in maintaining funding for this important program in the 2009-2010 budget, along with the Senate and Governor. In particular, we would like to thank Assemblyman Wright for his commitment to maintaining NOEP funding, despite a very difficult budget situation in the State..."

"By the end of 2009-2010, we project that NOEP will bring at least $70 million in federal food stamp benefits into the state. This is 35 times what the state will have invested in it. A program that returns 35 times what the state invests in it, improves public health, promotes self-sufficiency, helps people from all backgrounds, ethnic groups, ages, and geographic areas, is a wonderful example of good, sound public policy, and we commend the New York State Assembly for recognizing it as such, and maintaining its funding..."

Read the full testimony

Alternate Poverty Formula Doubles Senior Poverty Rate

(Associated Press, September 4, 2009) The poverty rate among older Americans could be nearly twice as high as the traditional 10 percent level, according to a revision of a half-century-old formula for calculating medical costs and geographic variations in the cost of living.

The National Academy of Science's formula would put the poverty rate for Americans 65 and over at 18.6 percent, or 6.8 million people, compared with 9.7 percent, or 3.6 million people, under the current measure. The original government formula, created in 1955, doesn't take account of rising costs of medical care and other factors.

Senior citizens living in poverty is "a hidden problem," said Robin Talbert, president of the AARP Foundation. "There are still many millions of older people on the edge, who don't have what they need to get by."

Last year, New York City recognized that current poverty measure was a poor gauge of either the degree of economic deprivation in the City or the impact of programs intended to alleviate it. The City adopted the NAS numbers, as a realistic threshold of poverty, essentially doubling the number of seniors in poverty (from 18.1 percent to 32 percent). Albany officials plan to reveal revised state numbers next month.

The current calculation sets the poverty level at three times the annual cost of groceries. For a family of four that is $21,203. That calculation does not factor in rising medical, transportation, child care and housing expenses or geographical variations in living costs. Nor does the current formula consider noncash aid when calculating income, despite the recent expansion of food stamps and tax credits in the federal economic stimulus and other government programs. The result: The poverty rate for the overall population has varied little from its current 12.5 percent.
Nationally, official poverty rates for older Americans have improved significantly over the past 30 years due to expansions of Social Security and Supplemental Security Income. But many older people with modest cash incomes would fall below the poverty line under the NAS formula due to out-of-pocket expenses from rising Medicare premiums, deductibles and a coverage gap in the prescription drug benefit that is known as the "doughnut hole."