The austere US safety net for poor, non-elderly adults who are not raising children and do not receive disability benefits

The austere US safety net for poor, non-elderly adults who are not raising children and do not receive disability benefits Robert Greenstein Introduction adults not receiving disability benefits, it shrank the poverty gap by only 23 percent in 2017—which was a The U. [...] How the safety net affects Gaps in the safety net poverty among non-elderly Greenstein argues that, for non-elderly childless adults childless adults who do not who do not receive disability benefits, no federal or federally supported cash assistance is generally avail- receive disability benefits able regardless of how poor they might be. [...] very poor non-elderly childless adults could receive Further, with the safety net for these non-elder- cash assistance in most states through state-run and ly childless adults as limited as it is, the non-elderly state-financed general assistance (GA) programs or, childless adults who are poor tend to be poorer than in some cases, through local GA programs. [...] Greenstein argues that while the federal government More than 2 million uninsured non-elderly or dis- and the states can take steps to strengthen support abled childless adults live in the 10 states that have for low-income non-elderly childless adults, a focus not adopted the ACA’s Medicaid expansion. [...] Or the federal government centage of the federal EITC to childless workers than could extend the subsidized health coverage offered to families with children; (2) extend state EITCs to in these 10 states through the ACA’s marketplaces to childless workers who are under 25 or over 65; and people below the poverty line who would qualify for (3) where the politics allow, permit workers who file Medic.