The transition from traditional welfare programs to the welfare-to-work efforts launched four years has sparked at least one significant problem: up to one million low-income parents have lost Medicaid coverage and likely are without any form of replacement health insurance, according to a new report issued by Families USA.

The report, "Go Directly to Work, Do Not Collect Health Insurance: Low-Income Parents Lose Medicaid," studied 15 states with the largest numbers of uninsured poor adults less than 65 years old.

The problem may lie with the states: Congress approved plans that would offer Medicaid for six months after a person leaves welfare, but individual states have not complied with this standard, the New York Times reports.

"Our study shows that hundreds of thousands of low-wage working parents were cast adrift without health insurance when they did the right thing and found jobs. Most parents moving from welfare to work are in jobs that provide no health coverage, but they are losing their Medicaid lifeline," stated Families USA Executive Director Ronald F. Pollack.

In those 15 states, Medicaid enrollment by low-income parents dropped from 3,503,553 in 1996 to 2,557,673 in December 1999, a decrease of 945,880 people. The states with the largest enrollment declines were: Georgia, which cut its relevant Medicaid roles by 50 percent; Texas, with a 46-percent decrease; and Ohio's 42-percent decline among low-income parents.

Before this report was released, federal officials had stated they were unaware of any significant problems caused by welfare reform, and likewise had not hard data to document problems.

These same officials may be reevaluating state implementation, the Times reports.

"The report by Families USA shows that there is a lot of state-to-state variation. States can and should do more to expand Medicaid coverage for people leaving welfare," Melissa T. Skolfield, a Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman, told the newspaper.

The full Families USA report is available online at http://www.familiesusa.org/pubs/gowrk.pdf, although it required the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software to view it.

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