Parents and their kids missed out on $727 million in benefits last year by not applying for food stamps and federal tax credits, according to a report released yesterday.
Half of New Yorkers eligible for food stamps didn’t collect all the benefits they are permitted, the Children’s Defense Fund study found.
It also noted that two-thirds of children eligible for free health insurance are not enrolled.
Statewide, New York is losing more than $1 billion a year in federal benefits, the report estimated.
“We need to better educate parents about the benefits they worked for and are entitled to, instead of giving huge tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires,” Marian Wright Edelman, president of the organization, said yesterday at a press conference, standing alongside two single parents profiled in the study.
“Right now the applications are so complicated you almost need to be a lawyer or accountant.”
Elizabeth Henley, 53, a single parent who lives on the Upper West Side, said she’d be homeless were it not for these programs.
The $22,000 she earned as a private tutor and adjunct professor of creative writing at New York University barely covered the cost of rent and food, she said.
After learning about Child Health Plus insurance from a subway poster, she was able to save hundreds of dollars a month on coverage for her 8-year-old daughter.
She also received an additional $2,506 last year through the earned income tax credit, which one out of six eligible New Yorkers neglect.
Over the past two years, the city has conducted a campaign to increase awareness of the earned income tax credit.
There are still 230,000 New Yorkers eligible for the credit who are not receiving it, but the city is working to change that by offering free assistance with tax returns.
Missing out
* 1 out of 6 city residents eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit are not claiming it, losing $159 million.
* 1 out of 2 city residents eligible for food stamps are not receiving them, missing out on $568 million.
* 2 out of 3 uninsured children statewide are eligible for federally financed public health insurance but not enrolled.
* 1 out of 3 uninsured adults are also eligible, but not enrolled.
Source: Children’s Defense Fund