Quote:
Originally Posted by KristofferUmfrey
"...rely on government assistance"????
Did you read the article????
Apparently not.
|
Let's take a look at what I "didn't read"
Quote:
The most widely used poverty-related programs are food stamps and Medicaid, particularly for pregnant women and newborn care. With Colorado City and Centennial Park combined, 126 children were enrolled in KidsCare, a low-cost health insurance program.
Another 3,416 people received some form of Medicaid coverage, said Christine Goldberg, spokeswoman for the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System.
On the Utah side, the most widely used Medicaid program covers newborns. Through August of this year, there was an average of 131 such cases of ongoing coverage in Hildale. In August, other Medicaid programs and the state Children's Health Insurance Program had 324 open cases in the city.
The food stamp program bases allotments on household size, income and available financial resources. Nationwide, half of food stamp recipients are children and 61 percent live in single-parent families, according to the USDA's Food & Nutrition Service.
In Hildale there were an average of 75 cases a month in 2007-08, while Colorado City averaged 207 food stamp cases between March 2007 and March 2008.
A comparison of Colorado City's zip code data with two other Arizona communities with similar populations found household case counts to be about the same, according to the Arizona Department of Economic Security.
But family sizes skew individual counts.
"The number of recipients in Colorado City tends to be higher because families in that area tend to be larger," said Liz Barker Alvarez, department spokeswoman.
Based on number of recipients, 44 percent of Colorado City residents received food stamps -- not 78 percent, as a guide put together by the Utah Attorney General's Office states. Arizona provided $1.5 million in food stamps to area residents in 2006 and 2007.
Utah did not provide information about recipient numbers. But the average monthly food stamp benefit in Hildale is $829, compared with the typical monthly grant of $250 in Washington County.
|
Take note, the
household case counts are similar, but the family sizes are so much larger that the average household in the polygamous community puts more strain on the system than the average household elsewhere. The raw number of recipients in the polygamous areas is higher.
The cases of medicaid and prenatal healthcare are disproportionately large in polygamous communities. The birth rate per 1,000 women in Washington County, Utah is 90.7 compared to a national average of 96.5 compared to the national average of 66.0 (
March. of Dimes). Washington County is home to St. George, which has a disproportionately elderly population, ergo, a lower birth rate. So to jack the birthrate up that high requires that somewhere in the county is a disproportionately high birth rate. Want to guess where?
And here's the really damning statistic. In Hildale, Washington County, Utah, the average monthly food benefit is $829. Averaged over all of Washington County, the monthly benefit is only $250.
Now let me repeat what I said earlier: I do not think that they have committed welfare fraud. I believe these people truly are poor. But they are living in poverty because the group they affiliate with encourages illegal and immoral behaviors that have put them in a position where they are reliant on welfare.
Is there anything else you think I'm not reading?