The Faith and Advocacy Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness is very interested in simplifying the process of applying for programs that reduce hunger and homelessness. Parents should not have to take days off from work to apply for help feeding their children or connecting them with healthcare. At our meeting on November 8, 2023, we agreed to circulate a clergy sign-on letter addressed to the administration of different hospitals asking them to help their patients apply for Medicaid and other programs available through Utah's combined application for services.
Hospitals often help low income patients to apply for Medicaid because patients with health insurance are able to pay their medical bills. Utah's combined application makes it possible to apply for other types of assistance while applying for Medicaid but not everyone realizes how simple it is to do so, Our hope is that this letter will convince hospital administrators to look into the application process and the research on the positive health impacts of housing stability and access to nutritious foods.
The text of the letter, and a form to include your name on the letter, can be found below. If you know a faith community leader who might be willing to sign the letter please share this page on our website with them.
Clergy Sign-On Letter to Utah Hospitals
Dear __________,
We are an interfaith and advocacy group dedicated to address poverty and to end hunger and homelessness. We write to ask that you take action with respect to patients who may be entitled to Medicaid and other governmental benefits.
As you know, Utah Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is required to review Medicaid eligibility for all (over 510,000) recipients. Since March each month tens of thousands of Utahns have had their Medicaid insurance cancelled – most for “administrative reasons” not ineligibility. See: https://medicaid.utah.gov/unwinding/unwinding-eligibility-data/
We are naturally concerned that many of these recipients may have moved and did not receive the correspondence from Utah HHS. Other recipients may have disabilities, including cognitive and emotional disabilities, that made it difficult for them to understand such correspondence and respond to it in a timely and accurate way. Research has shown that people often lose eligibility for public benefits like Medicaid not because they are no longer eligible, but because they simply fail to keep up with the bureaucratic requirements.
For these reasons, we call on you and other medical providers to take whatever steps you can to ensure your patients’ continued eligibility for Medicaid. If recipients take action within 90 days of termination, their coverage can be reinstated without the need to reapply.
We also urge that, when you assist a recipient to apply or reapply for Medicaid, you also help the recipient to apply for other benefits to which they may be entitled. Utah has a combined application for Medicaid, CHIP, SNAP (food stamps), TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), and childcare assistance. The information necessary to successfully complete the applications for Medicaid or CHIP is more than sufficient to begin the process of applying for other programs. This means that if your staff help patients to apply for Medicaid and CHIP they can also, without doing any additional work, help the same patients apply for programs that help families avoid hunger and homelessness.
Pulitzer-prize winning sociologist Matthew Desmond’s new book, Poverty, By America states that “low-income Americans are not taking full advantage of government programs [because] we’ve made it hard and confusing.” USDA data shows that only 79% of low-income Utahns entitled to food stamps receive them, lower than the national average. Even worse, only 72% of working Utahns (and 28% of elderly Utahns) entitled to food stamps are getting this help. www.usda.gov/usamap#. We are not stronger as a community when our weakest members are undernourished and uninsured.
Thank you for your anticipated support. We would very much appreciate exploring this topic further with the appropriate individuals from your facility.
Sincerely,
Hospitals often help low income patients to apply for Medicaid because patients with health insurance are able to pay their medical bills. Utah's combined application makes it possible to apply for other types of assistance while applying for Medicaid but not everyone realizes how simple it is to do so, Our hope is that this letter will convince hospital administrators to look into the application process and the research on the positive health impacts of housing stability and access to nutritious foods.
The text of the letter, and a form to include your name on the letter, can be found below. If you know a faith community leader who might be willing to sign the letter please share this page on our website with them.
Clergy Sign-On Letter to Utah Hospitals
Dear __________,
We are an interfaith and advocacy group dedicated to address poverty and to end hunger and homelessness. We write to ask that you take action with respect to patients who may be entitled to Medicaid and other governmental benefits.
As you know, Utah Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is required to review Medicaid eligibility for all (over 510,000) recipients. Since March each month tens of thousands of Utahns have had their Medicaid insurance cancelled – most for “administrative reasons” not ineligibility. See: https://medicaid.utah.gov/unwinding/unwinding-eligibility-data/
We are naturally concerned that many of these recipients may have moved and did not receive the correspondence from Utah HHS. Other recipients may have disabilities, including cognitive and emotional disabilities, that made it difficult for them to understand such correspondence and respond to it in a timely and accurate way. Research has shown that people often lose eligibility for public benefits like Medicaid not because they are no longer eligible, but because they simply fail to keep up with the bureaucratic requirements.
For these reasons, we call on you and other medical providers to take whatever steps you can to ensure your patients’ continued eligibility for Medicaid. If recipients take action within 90 days of termination, their coverage can be reinstated without the need to reapply.
We also urge that, when you assist a recipient to apply or reapply for Medicaid, you also help the recipient to apply for other benefits to which they may be entitled. Utah has a combined application for Medicaid, CHIP, SNAP (food stamps), TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), and childcare assistance. The information necessary to successfully complete the applications for Medicaid or CHIP is more than sufficient to begin the process of applying for other programs. This means that if your staff help patients to apply for Medicaid and CHIP they can also, without doing any additional work, help the same patients apply for programs that help families avoid hunger and homelessness.
Pulitzer-prize winning sociologist Matthew Desmond’s new book, Poverty, By America states that “low-income Americans are not taking full advantage of government programs [because] we’ve made it hard and confusing.” USDA data shows that only 79% of low-income Utahns entitled to food stamps receive them, lower than the national average. Even worse, only 72% of working Utahns (and 28% of elderly Utahns) entitled to food stamps are getting this help. www.usda.gov/usamap#. We are not stronger as a community when our weakest members are undernourished and uninsured.
Thank you for your anticipated support. We would very much appreciate exploring this topic further with the appropriate individuals from your facility.
Sincerely,
