"An infusion of joy"
May 3, 2023 6:02 AM Subscribe
How a Flint pediatrician hopes to improve health and dismantle poverty
As long as it secures the necessary funding to launch, the Rx Kids program will work to improve residents’ health by alleviating poverty in Michigan’s poorest city through providing a total of $7,500 in cash to Flint families. That includes a one-time $1,500 payment to expectant individuals in midpregnancy, which will be followed by $500 payments per month for the first year of a child’s life. Extensive research has found that poverty and low-income status are associated with a long list of health issues, including shorter life expectancy and higher rates of infant mortality, asthma, depression, and substance abuse.
As long as it secures the necessary funding to launch, the Rx Kids program will work to improve residents’ health by alleviating poverty in Michigan’s poorest city through providing a total of $7,500 in cash to Flint families. That includes a one-time $1,500 payment to expectant individuals in midpregnancy, which will be followed by $500 payments per month for the first year of a child’s life. Extensive research has found that poverty and low-income status are associated with a long list of health issues, including shorter life expectancy and higher rates of infant mortality, asthma, depression, and substance abuse.
[Clicks link hoping she is organizing for revolution among a mass base of working class Michiganders.. finds she is giving out money instead.. decides well that's still something!]
posted by latkes at 9:58 AM on May 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by latkes at 9:58 AM on May 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
the impacts of unconditional cash aid on children’s development, and on reducing socioeconomic inequalities in children’s future economic and health outcomes, are not well understood
Lol, United States: we've tried nothing, never, and we have no idea whether doing something, once, might work better than that!
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 11:11 AM on May 3, 2023 [9 favorites]
Lol, United States: we've tried nothing, never, and we have no idea whether doing something, once, might work better than that!
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 11:11 AM on May 3, 2023 [9 favorites]
The expanded child tax credit was temporarily provided by the federal government as part of a COVID-19 relief deal in 2021. That expanded tax credit, which has since ended nationwide...
That's an awfully charitable way of saying that it was going to be made permanent except some asshole in West Virginia was absolutely convinced people were using the money to buy drugs and couldn't be persuaded otherwise because he's a fucking moron and because of razor thin margins he got to override the will of his entire party and everyone just sat around accepting it because current political reality and judicial nominations etc.
Fuck Manchin.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 11:23 AM on May 3, 2023 [12 favorites]
That's an awfully charitable way of saying that it was going to be made permanent except some asshole in West Virginia was absolutely convinced people were using the money to buy drugs and couldn't be persuaded otherwise because he's a fucking moron and because of razor thin margins he got to override the will of his entire party and everyone just sat around accepting it because current political reality and judicial nominations etc.
Fuck Manchin.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 11:23 AM on May 3, 2023 [12 favorites]
Smells like socialism to me.
How dare anyone do anything to improve the lot of US citizens!
posted by BlueHorse at 12:23 PM on May 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
How dare anyone do anything to improve the lot of US citizens!
posted by BlueHorse at 12:23 PM on May 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
It's good that local groups and private charities are trying to pick up the ball, but it's still infuriating that we had a national version of this.
Expanding the child tax credit, making it fully refundable, and providing that refund as monthly payments was exactly the kind of quiet, incremental progress that's supposed to be realistically achievable. The tax credit wasn't a huge piece of legislation advocated by charismatic political actors and supported by large marches, it was a few simple tweaks to the tax code conceived by policy wonks who recognized the impact and sensed an opportunity. It was such a small change that it's doubtful Republicans even noticed it, and having the credit pay out to effectively everyone with kids was also a brilliant trick that should have protected the program from future repeals and solidified it as a third rail.
And it should have remained! Except one guy threw an extraordinary temper tantrum, the kind that only a white male senator in an evenly divided Senate can, and poof! It was gone! And it's doubtful that we'll ever get the same chance to sneak it into the tax code again.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 1:52 PM on May 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
Expanding the child tax credit, making it fully refundable, and providing that refund as monthly payments was exactly the kind of quiet, incremental progress that's supposed to be realistically achievable. The tax credit wasn't a huge piece of legislation advocated by charismatic political actors and supported by large marches, it was a few simple tweaks to the tax code conceived by policy wonks who recognized the impact and sensed an opportunity. It was such a small change that it's doubtful Republicans even noticed it, and having the credit pay out to effectively everyone with kids was also a brilliant trick that should have protected the program from future repeals and solidified it as a third rail.
And it should have remained! Except one guy threw an extraordinary temper tantrum, the kind that only a white male senator in an evenly divided Senate can, and poof! It was gone! And it's doubtful that we'll ever get the same chance to sneak it into the tax code again.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 1:52 PM on May 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
This sounds like a good start. I hope that they figure out a way to keep state and federal government agencies from messing with, eliminating, or reducing any benefits some families might already get, like Medicaid and Section 8 housing vouchers. Those programs are notorious for messing with people.
posted by mareli at 5:59 PM on May 3, 2023
posted by mareli at 5:59 PM on May 3, 2023
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The evidence is strong that unconditional cash transfers work in poor countries (link to GiveDirectly, which is supporting the Flint program and to which I give a lot of money). But there's little evidence of the effects in the U.S.. as discussed in this recent article. From that article (paywalled): "Even though children are the largest beneficiaries of the current U.S. social safety net, the impacts of unconditional cash aid on children’s development, and on reducing socioeconomic inequalities in children’s future economic and health outcomes, are not well understood." I hope it helps as much as the sponsors expect.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 7:03 AM on May 3, 2023 [5 favorites]