Stop HB 4001: Don’t Punish Families Who Rely on SNAP, Medicaid, and TANF

Stop HB 4001! An Action Alert from Our Children, Our Future

Call Health Committee chair:  Joe Ellington (R-Mercer)  (304) 340-3269

HB 4001 contains several measures that punish families who rely on SNAP, Medicaid or TANF, and contracts with a private vendor to verify eligibility. It is designed to do nothing more than kick people off of these programs and pay millions to a third party administrator.

HB 4001 could be taken up by the House Health Committee as early as Tuesday.  Two main items are of concern to us: 

1) ASSET TESTING requirement- a very low asset limit is just one requirement in the bill that will hurt families, especially:

• seniors and people with disabilities. SNAP households are more likely to include these folks, and will punish those who have managed to set aside even a small amount of savings.
• working families who set aside a modest savings. Low income parents would have to choose between having a fund for medical care or emergency expenses, and putting food on the table for their kids. Owning a second vehicle could disqualify the entire family.

Hiring a PRIVATE COMPANY is wasteful and unnecessary:

• DHHR already does extensive income verification of all applicants.
• A private vendor will cost the state millions of dollars.
• The vendor will get incentives if they lower the amount of people on each program which means kicking people off of SNAP, Medicaid and TANF. The third party contractor will not get paid unless they save the state an amount equal to their contract. How will they save the state money? By removing people from these programs through paperwork and red tape. Eligible families will be disqualified through no fault of their own.

Stop HB 4001! Call:

House Health Committee chair:   Joe Ellington (Mercer)  (304) 340-3269

House Health Committee members:  Lynne Arvon (Raleigh), Martin Atkinson (Roane), Jim Butler (Mason), Roy Cooper (Summers), Vernon Criss (Wood), Mark Dean (Mingo), Jordan Hill (Nicholas), Ray Hollen (Wirt), Eric Householder (Berkeley), Ben Queen (Harrison), Matthew Rohrbach (Cabell), Ruth Rowan (Hampshire), Kelli Sobonya (Cabell), and Brad White (Kanawha)

Capitol switchboard: 304-347-4836 – they’ll transfer your call to the correct office

Find individual phone numbers here.

Want even more information about HB 4001? The WV Center on Budget and Policy breaks it down on Twitter: @WVCBP …Check it out!