Editorials

Search Results

Close Previous Now showing: of Next

Previous Next Close

Related Photos

• 

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable as well as posts that are attacking other users. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.

comments powered by Disqus

August 2, 2008

Tribune-Star Editorial: Fixing state welfare system an urgent need

Anonymous The Tribune Star Sat Aug 02, 2008, 06:58 PM EDT

TERRE HAUTE — A working mom should not have to miss work, three times, waiting to speak with state welfare staffers on the phone.

Her son, a victim of a violent crime in Vigo County, no longer has health insurance and requires medical treatment. Yet the privatized makeover of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration has put this young boy on hold, awaiting help.

They’re not alone. People who receive Medicaid, food stamps and other welfare benefits are telling lawmakers and anyone willing to listen about a new system that loses their vital documents and leaves their telephone calls on hold for long periods of time.

Indiana’s old system of handling an ever-increasing number of welfare cases needed fixed, not just changed. Sadly, the replacement model is broken, too.

In late 2006, the state hired a vending team led by IBM Corp. and Affiliated Computer Services Inc. to process applications for a variety of public safety-net programs, such as Medicaid and food stamps. As a result, the former system in which recipients met face-to-face with welfare case workers has been largely replaced with call centers. Recipients now are being encouraged to apply via the Internet or telephone. The changeover started with a 12-county area and gradually reached 47 counties, including Vigo.

The significant numbers in that deal are the $1.16-billion, 10-year contract awarded to those private firms, and the 1.1 million Hoosiers — children, the elderly, the poor and the disabled — who receive welfare benefits.

Privatization of other Indiana facilities and services, meant to cut costs and add efficiency, has produced mixed results at the state prisons, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the Indiana Toll Road. But this is different. Children in need of Medicaid assistance should not be left in unhealthy limbo while the FSSA tries to work the bugs out of this experiment. Delayed prescription approvals and food assistance holdups directly affect the lives of Hoosiers least able to cover those costs themselves. That’s unacceptable.

Thankfully, the rollout of the new program has been temporarily halted. The federal Food and Nutrition Service recommended Indiana delay any further implementation of welfare changes until the state improved the timeliness of processing applications, The Associated Press reported.

The state FSSA insists it is giving serious attention to the problems, but that sincerity and sense of urgency has yet to be proven to those who count on that agency most. Before this new automated system resumes its spread to the entire state, Gov. Mitch Daniels and state lawmakers should avoid election posturing over this issue and fix its deficiencies right away.

Text Only | Photo Reprints

Editorials

• EDITORIAL: Drug-testing bill lacks fairness and decency

  The current session of the Indiana Legislature has produced plenty of initiatives that play well to the majority party’s base.

  February 12, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Keep religion out of science class

  An uncertain fate remains for an Indiana Senate bill that would, if it were to become law, allow public schools to teach creationism and other origin-of-life theories in their classes. But this fight may have already been grounded.

  February 10, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Delivering on infrastructure

  With national, state and local economies showing distinct signs of recovery from the Great Recession of 2008, it is good to hear Mayor Duke Bennett sounding optimistic about Terre Haute and its immediate future.

  February 9, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Volunteer ‘army’ serving the needs of children

  You know, of course, that casa means house. But do you also know that its all-capitals cousin, CASA, means home?

  February 6, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Big dreams do come true

  Consider this Super Bowl Sunday to be proof that anything is possible.

  February 5, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Big ‘kick’ from a native son

  Every player in Sunday’s Super Bowl is from somewhere. But not every player remembers where he’s from and reaches out to consistently help those back home. Not like Steve Weatherford. Make that not like Terre Haute’s Steve Weatherford.
   

  February 3, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Smoking ban good enough

  When it comes to getting things done in the Indiana General Assembly, progress is often measured in baby steps. Indeed, it can take years to achieve even meager accomplishments.

  February 2, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: United Way’s strong reputation helps sustain community trust

  It would be foolish in any community to take “positives” for granted, but it’s easy to understand how a casual observer would assume that United Way of the Wabash Valley will always come through with flying colors.

  February 1, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Nothing sexy about human trafficking

  When kickoff comes at the 2012 Super Bowl, expectations will be high for a fun, competitive, fanatical contest between the two survivors of the NFL’s regular season.

  January 29, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: The law’s good ‘Shepard’

  Under the radar and against the backdrop of the fractious right-to-work battle going on in Indianapolis, one of state’s leading public servants delivered his valedictory in typical understated, even quiet, style two weeks ago. And before Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard slips away into retirement, his work needs to be acknowledged and praised.

  January 26, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Cops at risk

  Indiana lawmakers are playing with a loaded gun in a bill that passed the Indiana Senate Monday, 45-5.

  January 25, 2012  

• TRIBUNE-STAR EDITORIAL: Helping your community, a few mouse clicks at a time

  When you type WabashValleyGives.org into your web browser, hundreds of opportunities to help your local community will open on the screen before you.
   

  January 24, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Raves around the town

  To begin the week, we are raving about these recent pieces of local news:

  January 23, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Let Hoosiers have a say on right-to-work bill

  Indiana legislators, both Republican and Democrat, may claim to know the will of the people on right-to-work.

  January 22, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Thin ice winter’s deadly scourge

  Six-year-old Trevor Wayne Young of Nashville, Ind., and 50-year-old Allen D. Johnson of Galva, Ill., probably had little in common — except the way they died.
   

  January 20, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Meeting needs at St. Ann's

  The caliber of a community often is revealed by its efforts to help its least fortunate citizens.

  January 18, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: A sweet deal for Amazon.com

  That loud lip-smack on the cheek you heard echoing from Indianapolis last week was the sound of Gov. Mitch Daniels kissing off on what amounts to another sweetheart deal between Indiana and Amazon.com, the online retailing giant.

  January 16, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: A new era for growth

  The promised announcement of a major new industry for the former Pfizer property in southern Vigo County turned out to be well worth the wait.

  January 15, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Transparency a worthy goal

  Do taxpayers have the right to know specific details of contracts between elected school boards and superintendents they hire to run their operations?
   

  January 13, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Shakir Bell’s success gives boost to Sycamore football

  Hope inspires progress. It’s the fuel for a better future.

  January 12, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Inspiration for the future

  Hope inspires progress. It’s the fuel for a better future.

  January 12, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Put teeth in public access laws

  Indiana’s laws governing public access, as good as they are, lack something important — teeth. There are no significant consequences for agencies or employees who intentionally violate them.

  January 11, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Time for teamwork in Sullivan

  The beginning of a new mayoral term in any community is — or should be — a time when the talk of the town is rife with ideas, improvements and changes.

  January 9, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Lawmakers should leave IHSAA, high school basketball alone

  In an idyllic world, Indiana could restore its fabled single-class high school basketball state tournament, and thousands of fans would pour into gymnasiums from Angola to Corydon in hopes of witnessing another “Milan Miracle” year after year after year.

  January 8, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: ‘Anthem’ proposal way off key

  Remember Faith Hill’s impassioned rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl in 2000?
   

  January 6, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Back from the access brink

  It took almost a week, but Gov. Daniels finally stepped up and did the right thing on Wednesday, rescinding new rules aimed at restricting the number of people allowed in the Statehouse during this session of the General Assembly.

  January 5, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Poor decision by local Dems

  By a little after 4 this afternoon, Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett will have been sworn in for a second term and City Councilman-elect Robert All will have taken the oath of office for the first time.

  January 2, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Be it resolved …

  Resolutions for 2012 are top-of-mind today.

  January 1, 2012  

• EDITORIAL: Another slice of Classic history

  Baseball is the so-called American pastime, but to Hoosiers and to our Illinois neighbors, it’s basketball that gets a community’s blood pumping. And no form of roundball does that any more intimately than high school basketball, whether boys or girls. College hoops is great, but nothing quite beats the packed, overheated confines of a high school gym when a tight game turns on every possession, every shot, every rebound, every pass, every defensive position. The sing-song of cheerleaders, the shrillness of a ref’s whistle, the squeak of gym shoes on hardwood, the shouted instructions from the benches, the aroma of popcorn — those form a Midwestern tableau unlike any other.
   

  December 30, 2011  

• EDITORIAL: A strategy for growth

  There are many ways to market an area in order to spur economic growth. Some may work better than others, but there is no perfect approach. The essential thing is to have a strategy and to implement it.

  December 29, 2011  

• More Editorials Headlines

© 2012 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. · CNHI Classified Advertising Network · CNHI News Service
Associated Press content © 2012. All rights reserved. AP content may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Our site is powered by Zope. Some parts of our site may require you to download the Flash Player Plugin.
Privacy Policy | AP News Registry privacy policy
Terms and Conditions
Advertiser Index

Events by eviesays.com

News From Terre Haute, Indiana 222 S 7th St Terre Haute, IN 47807