I was very happy to see front-page attention on the ‘cliff effect.’ (“Tackling the ‘cliff effect,’” Dec. 8.) As a professional social worker for 40-plus years, I’ve seen the impact of the cliff effect first-hand and often. As people with lower income make more money, they lose benefits like Medicaid or food stamps faster than they can replace their value with earned income. Work doesn’t pay. It’s great this issue has been recognized with a pilot program to help people replace lost income support. However, this project is a Band-Aid on a wound that will keep opening until we change the income eligibility guidelines for public benefit programs and the level of wages. Here’s an example. The income eligibility limit for being in Head Start is 100% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), $23,030 for a family of three in 2022. This is an income of utter deprivation that stunts children’s development and throws parents into depression and worse. As minimum wage has risen, parents in minimum wage jobs (now $29,640/year for full-time) have lost eligibility for a great program, and Head Start programs are having a hard time filling their slots. A similar dynamic happens with Medicaid, food stamps, childcare subsidies, etc. To make a real difference, program eligibility levels and program funding would have to be re-vamped. Program eligibility could be based on the local cost of living, and people could pay gradually more for services as their income rises, but not enough to lose ground. This would mean additional government support for perennially underfunded programs. And then there’s the whole issue of employers paying living wages. Full-time minimum wage income at $14.25/hour is only one-third of the living wage for Hampshire County for a family with one worker and two children (MIT living wage calculator). The cliff effect is not just an individual issue of foregoing a raise to hold onto benefits. It’s an economic issue of perverse incentives that prevent moving up the income ladder — the death of the [myth of] the American Dream baked right into our social and economic policies. It will take dramatic changes to move this needle.
Ann Darling
Easthampton