Inquirer Editorial: LIHEAP backlog adds to Corbett's reputation

The Corbett administration doesn't seem to care that it has acquired a reputation for callous treatment of poor people. If it cared, it wouldn't have failed to process federal energy assistance applications and risk thousands of low-income customers having to pay reconnection fees through no fault of their own.

The state Department of Public Welfare is responsible for processing applications for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps families pay utility bills. The $185 million program is fully funded by the federal government, so the DPW cannot use a lack of funds as an excuse for its failure to process the applications of 8,000 families who have been waiting more than 90 days for an answer. State rules require Pennsylvania to process applications in 30 days.

When an applications backlog occurred last year, then-Secretary of Welfare Gary Alexander promised it wouldn't happen again. But it has. The state has a total backlog of 14,000 applications. That's 14,000 families in danger of losing their power and having to live without hot water for bathing or washing dishes and clothes. When the LIHEAP checks do arrive, families paying their utility bills late may have to pay reconnection fees, straining fragile budgets.

DPW officials told Inquirer reporter Alfred Lubrano that the agency would work with utilities to delay service terminations in some circumstances. That's a good start, but this is yet another unsettling example of how the Corbett administration has mistreated struggling families.

It has been routinely late with unemployment payments, which has drawn sharp criticism by the U.S. Department of Labor. Corbett instituted a means test for food stamps, resulting in the cutoff of 4,000 people, even though that hurdle had been rejected by most states as being harmful to the poor and elderly.

Corbett cut general assistance to poor adults and child-care subsidies for working families. A stumble by his administration tossed 89,000 children from Medicaid. And he has yet to agree to implement the Affordable Care Act, which could provide health insurance to 650,000, using federal funds.

This profoundly disturbing pattern goes beyond the apparent ineptness of an overwhelmed bureaucracy. It raises questions about the intent of the governor and his cabinet. Beyond correcting egregious errors that are hurting families, Corbett should take time to explain to the public why his folks are misfiring so often with programs that aid the poor.