March - April 1998

Cover

 
  • The Potential of Child Support as an Income Source for Low-Income Families

    With the passage of the new welfare law and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, low-income mothers, especially those in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, may benefit from increased child-support income becoming available to them. Programs to increase earning potential of low-income fathers, child-support assurance, changes in child-support distribution policies, and protections for victims of domestic violence would contribute to making child support a viable source of income.

    By Paula Roberts

  • Less Than Six Degrees of Separation: Consumer Law Connections to Your Practice (Part I)

    Welfare reform and economic barriers existing long before "reform" make knowledge about consumer law issues essential for legal services advocates. Consumer law's connection to welfare law, to family and domestic violence law, and to advocates with immigrant clients is explored in this first part, its relationship with housing, health, and the elderly in a second part.

    By Deanne Loonin and Elizabeth Renuart

  • Medicaid Advocacy and Managed Care: The Missouri Experience

    Consumer advocacy was influential in the development of Missouri's section 1115 Medicaid waiver and the implementation of Medicaid managed care. Consumer groups won important protections in the state's Medicaid waiver and managed care contracts and influenced the enrollment process and the provision of services under the state's managed care program.

    By Joel Ferber

  • The Child and Adult Care Food Program: A Resource for Communities

    The Child and Adult Care Food Program, an underutilized federal entitlement program, can be a resource for communities striving to offer safe and supportive after-school programs for children while their parents work.

    By Lynn Parker and Geraldine Henchy

  • Protecting Health, Preserving Assets: Laws Governing Conversions, Mergers, and Acquisitions Among Health Care Entities

    When nonprofit health care corporations and insurers convert to for-profit status, billions in charitable assets are transferred into organized philanthropy. Issues about valuation and conflicts of interest remain unresolved in many states, however, and threaten a lifeline for persons who increasingly face barriers to adequate health care. Twenty-one state laws address the restructuring of nonprofit entities.

    By Natalie Seto, Kathy Collins, and Bess Karger Weiskopf

  • A Quick and Easy Method of Screening for Medicaid Eligibility under the Pickle Amendment

    By Gordon Bonnyman