On June 26, the Heating Assistance Program (HAP) issued supplement payments to vendors for every household that received heating assistance this past winter. These supplements were made possible thanks to the legislators who authorized $9 million in heating assistance this past legislative session. These payments will allow households to pay down any balances they have from this past winter and/or prepare for the coming season. Some households will even be able to start the winter with oil in their tanks. Notices were sent to households and vendors informing them of the amount of the award.

The salmon have been swimming along for several months now and we now have some feedback for the months of October and November 2008. So far 4 of our salmon are off to a very good start, with three of them swimming at 100% and several more not far behind. However, with two months reflected in the sample thus far, our salmons’ keen sense of direction doesn’t appear to be quite fully developed.

Each and every one of us in the Division of Public Assistance work incredibly hard and deal with a vast assortment of complicated situations and issues. Your hard work and dedication makes a huge difference in the lives of the people we serve every day. Our Rising Excellence campaign for FFY 2008 is just one example of our demonstrated commitment to quality service.

New federal poverty guidelines for Alaska are effective March 1, 2009. These increase the income standards used to determine eligibility for the following Medicaid categories:

• Denali KidCare for children and pregnant women;
• Qualified Medicare Beneficiaries (QMB);
• Special Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries (SLMB and SLMB Plus);
• Transitional Medicaid;