Medicaid Bucks County Pennsylvania

Some analysts say the worst of the recession is over, news that would be welcomed in the wake of a recent U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, which shows Bucks County households receiving food stamps has increased 42.6 percent over the last two years.

Bucks County experienced the largest increase in southeastern Pennsylvania, but it was not alone. Montgomery (41.1 percent), Chester (33.4), Delaware (24.6) and Philadelphia (21.3) counties also experienced increases as numbers rose 25 percent statewide.

Bucks County also experienced the largest jump in southeastern Pennsylvania – 25.4 percent – for enrollment in Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Kathy Fisher, Family Economic Security Associate for Public Citizens for Children and Youth, says the increase in enrollment in food stamps and CHIP, as well as unemployment insurance and extensions show how fragile our safety net is responding as designed in a bad economy.

"But with job state losses more severe in 2009 than in 2008, the exhaustion of unemployment benefits and families eating through their meager, if any, savings, the impact on children will likely be seen in next year's poverty numbers," said Fisher. "It is more important than ever for government programs to be strengthened and not further cut so that families have access to basic supports, as many will face a long, hard climb to recover financially."

Pennsylvania's poverty rate rose from 1,393,026 persons (11.6 percent) in 2007 to 1,458,394 (12.1 percent) in 2008, according to the survey.

Of 2,705,359 Pennsylvania children, 444,647 (16.4 percent) are living in poverty, up from 433,643 (15.9 percent) in 2007. In 2008, the census defined the poverty line for a family of two adults and two children at $21,200; for a family of two adults and one child, it was $17,600.

For southeastern Pennsylvania child poverty rates rose in Bucks (1.1 percent), Chester (0.9 percent) and Montgomery (1.5 percent) counties, while dropping in Delaware (-0.5 percent) and Philadelphia (-3.3 percent) counties.

In addition to the increase in poverty levels, the percentages of citizens using state or county funded Medicaid has nearly doubled in 2009. According to Bernard McBride, director of Bucks County Behavioral Health System, approximately 6 percent of people in Pennsylvania took advantage of state or county funded health care, but that number is now more than 10 percent.

“Those are people who don’t have medical care eligibility,” said McBride. “I can’t look at the number and say exactly why that is, but I can guess that people are either losing their jobs along with their benefits, or were paying for it themselves, but can no longer afford to anymore.”