Thousands Lose Welfare Benefits as Part of Experiment, Report Says

Thousands of poor people in Texas and four other states--Ohio, Washington, New York and Wisconsin--are unwitting subjects in a federal experiment that denies some aid to a portion of them to see how well they live without it, a newspaper said Sunday.

Extra Medicaid and child-care benefits now go to about 8,000 people in five regions of Texas, while about 800 people--selected at random--are excluded. On April 1, those extra benefits will be available to more than 50,000 people statewide--but not to the 800 unlucky Texans who face two more years without the help, the Dallas Morning News reported.

The Texas pilot program targets welfare recipients who find jobs or job training. Traditionally, such recipients have received four months of free medical care, plus some child care, after they leave the welfare rolls. The experimental program extended the benefits to one year of Medicaid coverage and subsidized child care--to all but the 800.

The theory is that the extended benefits will spur people to take and stay with entry-level jobs that are unlikely to offer medical insurance or child care immediately.