{"id":88,"date":"2013-07-19T09:28:05","date_gmt":"2013-07-19T13:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/?p=88"},"modified":"2017-05-03T17:10:27","modified_gmt":"2017-05-03T21:10:27","slug":"general-assistance-for-poor-pennsylvanians-with-disabilities-not-restored-by-the-commonwealth-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/2013\/07\/19\/general-assistance-for-poor-pennsylvanians-with-disabilities-not-restored-by-the-commonwealth-court\/","title":{"rendered":"General Assistance For Poor Pennsylvanians with Disabilities Not Restored By The Commonwealth Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

In June 2012, Pennsylvania terminated its General Assistance program for Poor Pennsylvanians suffering with disabilities. \u00a0Though this action was challenged in court, the Commonwealth Court decided in June 2013 that Pennsylvania could do so. \u00a0The minimal amount of money that these people received, $205\/mth, was not restored. \u00a0You can read the Commonwealth Court’s decision here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other portions of this case, dealing with pilot programs to create block grants for funding several services in the counties instead of having those services continue to be administered by the Commonwealth were resolved against the Commonwealth. \u00a0The effect of these parts of the case remain to be seen.<\/p>\n

For our clients, this case means that for the immediate future, there will be no welfare income benefits for people with disabilities. \u00a0IF YOU HAVE A DISABILITY, YOU MAY STILL QUALIFY FOR SOME WELFARE BENEFITS. \u00a0You may qualify for Social Security Disability or SSI benefits from the federal government. \u00a0You may also still qualify for Medical Assistance or SNAP (Foodstamp) benefits. \u00a0Do not assume that you do not qualify for some type of benefit just because the state welfare benefit is gone.<\/p>\n

For our students, the case contains an interesting description of the procedural rules that must be followed to pass a statute and the ways that legislators can work around them. \u00a0Among other things, though the Pennsylvania Constitution demands that a law be introduced over three different days and contain only one subject matter, the law making process in this instance was found constitutional when the portion of the bill eliminating General Assistance only appended at the third reading in a bill that dealt with many different parts of funding public welfare benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In June 2012, Pennsylvania terminated its General Assistance program for Poor Pennsylvanians suffering with disabilities. \u00a0Though this action was challenged in court, the Commonwealth Court<\/p>\n

Continue ReadingGeneral Assistance For Poor Pennsylvanians with Disabilities Not Restored By The Commonwealth Court<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1215,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":162,"url":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/2015\/02\/10\/watching-low-income-pennsylvanians-and-medicaid-expansion\/","url_meta":{"origin":88,"position":0},"title":"Watching Low-income Pennsylvanians and Medicaid Expansion","author":"Spencer Rand","date":"February 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"News today that Pennsylvania is withdrawing its Healthy PA Medical Assistance (Medicaid) plan for what should be a much more comprehensive and simpler Medicaid Expansion should be welcome news for the poor in Pennsylvania.\u00a0 Since Healthy PA was implemented, our Legal Aid office has been receiving calls about it from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":148,"url":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/2014\/07\/01\/temple-legal-aid-interns-work-highlighted-at-pa-long-term-care-commission-public-hearing\/","url_meta":{"origin":88,"position":1},"title":"Temple Legal Aid Intern\u2019s Work Highlighted at PA Long Term Care Commission Public Hearing","author":"Spencer Rand","date":"July 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"At a public hearing of the PA Long Term Care Commission focusing \u00a0on funding priorities for long-term care in light of the Affordable Care Act, our intern Leslie Allen had her white paper highlighted, discussed, distributed, and entered into the record.\u00a0 Entitled Adopting the Community First Choice Option in PA:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":166,"url":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/2015\/03\/03\/bespoke-legal-services-for-the-poor\/","url_meta":{"origin":88,"position":2},"title":"Bespoke Legal Services For The Poor","author":"Spencer Rand","date":"March 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the past few years, the value of \u201cbespoke\u201d or personalized legal services has been challenged.\u00a0 My experiences over the last few months suggest that there is a real place for these individualized services and that projects that ask people to navigate the legal system with little help from an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":219,"url":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/2017\/05\/04\/what-happens-to-my-children-if-i-die-or-become-very-sick\/","url_meta":{"origin":88,"position":3},"title":"What happens to my children if I die or become very sick?","author":"Spencer Rand","date":"May 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"If you have young children, you may worry about what will happen to them if you become too sick to take care of them, or if you die. There are steps you can take to make sure your children are taken care of by someone you know and trust. However,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Know the Law"","block_context":{"text":"Know the Law","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/category\/know-the-law\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":221,"url":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/2017\/05\/04\/clinic-success-stories-sometimes-it-takes-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":88,"position":4},"title":"Clinic Success Stories–Sometimes, It Takes Years!","author":"Spencer Rand","date":"May 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Our mission is to help people with their legal issues no matter what it takes. \u00a0Sometimes, it takes years! \u00a0We recently completed work we began 6 years ago to help a woman obtain SSI benefits for her disabilities.\u00a0 Despite her struggles with HIV, mental illness, and eventually with cancer, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":225,"url":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/2017\/05\/05\/do-i-have-to-worry-about-my-healthcare-because-the-house-passed-a-trumpcare-bill\/","url_meta":{"origin":88,"position":5},"title":"Do I have to worry about my healthcare because the House passed a Trumpcare bill?","author":"Spencer Rand","date":"May 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a law seeking to end part of Affordable Care Act health insurance, often called Obamacare, and replace it with the Affordable Health Care Act, often called Trumpcare.\u00a0 How does this affect you? For the present, it does not affect your health insurance but it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1215"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}