Supporters of a fast-growing cash aid program for Michigan moms and babies urged lawmakers on Aug. 12 to expand the program, born out of Flint and now operating in eight other communities, even further across the state.

Dubbed Rx Kids, the program is led by Flint pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna and is designed to tackle infant poverty by providing “cash prescriptions” — $1,500 mid-pregnancy and then $500 a month up to a year of the baby’s life. More than a year after launching, the program is open to eligible pregnant moms from parts of the Upper Peninsula and the west side of the state, and has garnered tens of millions of dollars in public and private dollars as well as interest from bipartisan lawmakers to propel its mission. Advocates of the program want it to grow statewide. A bill, part of a broader legislative package introduced by Democratic state senators earlier this year to cut down costs for families with children, would do just that.

Backers of Rx Kids, including lawmakers, participating moms, a funder and a leader from a Catholic public policy nonprofit, endorsed the program at a Senate committee hearing on Aug. 12.

“Every child deserves a healthy beginning, and every mother deserves the resources to nurture that future,” said bill sponsor state Sen. Sylvia Santana, D-Detroit at the Senate Committee on Housing and Human Services hearing.

Hanna, director of Rx Kids and associate dean of public health at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, said Rx Kids helps moms and babies during a consequential time.

“These are the months when a child’s brain is developing at lightning speed. … It’s also a time when stress and scarcity can have lifelong impacts. What happens in this really neurodevelopmental period can shape your entire life course, and it’s also during this window that families face the steepest expenses,” Hanna said. “It’s unprecedented, it is the greatest economic shock for families, because they need to buy things like diapers and cribs and still pay for rent and food. So, the most economically vulnerable window is also the same window of life that is the most neurodevelopmentally vulnerable.”

Rx Kids has so far distributed $13 million to more than 3,000 families in communities where it operates, including Flint, Kalamazoo, Pontiac, parts of the Eastern Upper Peninsula and, most recently, Clare County. In the next few months, the program will launch in eight more communities in southeast Michigan, and is ready to go in other areas with need and the ability to raise matching funds, Hanna said.

“What we are hearing from families and what we are seeing in the data is that families tell us for the first time they are able to breathe, to keep the lights on, to pay the rent, to put healthy food on their table. The top items that families spend these cash prescriptions on is, number one, baby supplies,” she said and urged lawmakers to expand Rx Kids statewide.

Tom Hickson, vice president for public policy and advocacy of the Michigan Catholic Conference, backed the legislation and said Rx Kids promotes human life and supports mothers in difficult situations.

“By helping mothers pay for critical prenatal and infant health care services and other expenses surrounding childbirth, Rx Kids can help mothers provide their babies the care they need, while in the womb and after they are born. Also from a Catholic perspective, Rx Kids is a positive step toward combating poverty,” Hickson told lawmakers.

The program — available in Chippewa, Luce, Mackinac, Alger and Schoolcraft counties — has been “completely transformative,” said Austin Lowes, chairman of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Moms used the cash on baby supplies, food, utilities, rent and clothing, he said, citing initial surveys. The money helped moms in the region make ends meet and improve maternal and infant health, he said.

“This is a model program that is creating healthier children and stronger families, and it’s an investment that Michigan is making that will return a lifetime of dividends for our communities,” Lowes said. The Sault Tribe donated $200,000 to the program.

Steve Hall, health officer with Central Michigan District Health Department, told lawmakers he was skeptical of Rx Kids at first but the data has proven otherwise, citing the 88% of participants who reported improved financial security and the 86% who attended prenatal appointments. Rural Clare County, which his health department serves, is among the poorest and unhealthiest counties in Michigan, he said.

“Access to health care is a huge issue. There are no birthing hospitals in Clare County.
In fact, we only have one birthing hospital in my entire six county jurisdiction,” he said. “There are also no pediatricians in Clare County. Our families often must make difficult decisions: do I put food on our table, or do I go to my medical appointments? A pregnant mom that spoke during our kickoff event mentioned that she had to go to Ann Arbor once a month for medical appointments. That puts a tremendous financial strain on her family — something that this program will help.”

Michigan’s Senate Bill 309 would require the department of health and human services to contract with Michigan State University — among the institutions behind Rx Kids — to establish and administer the program in providing cash to pregnant moms and monthly payments to households with a child under the age of one in designated areas, according to a bill analysis from the Senate Fiscal Agency.

It would cost $750 million to expand the program for the roughly 100,000 babies each year in Michigan. A supporter of Rx Kids, Republican state Sen. John Damoose (R-Harbor Springs) said the program depends on both public and private dollars and wouldn’t need the full amount to expand from state funding, based on how it is run.

Bipartisan lawmakers in Michigan, including Damoose, saw early promise in the program and said they’re watching for a range of outcomes that would spell success, from increased birth rates and school enrollment to improvements in child development and health.

“The results have been stunning, and it’s amazing how this program brings so many people together. I mean, finally, we’re doing something we can all agree on,” Damoose, who is part of the senate committee, said on Aug. 12.

Rx Kids is among dozens of programs across the country experimenting with providing direct cash payments to people with the greatest need.

As research continues, there’s evidence that cash aid can ease financial hardships for families. Locally, survey results from Rx Kids in Flint indicate the program is alleviating financial challenges for participants. Nationally, the pandemic-era expansion of the Child Tax Credit — a tax break for eligible families with kids — cut child poverty in about half.

But researchers are still studying the impact of cash assistance. A working paper, published in May for the National Bureau of Economic Research looked at the effect of monthly cash aid on child development. The study recruited 1,000 low-income moms who either received $333 a month or $20 a month for the first years of their children’s lives. After four years, researchers did not find differences between the groups on several outcomes, including language, social-emotional problems and pre-literacy, according to the study.

Researchers mention multiple explanations for this, including the size of the cash aid and the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors said the findings raise “the possibility that income alone may not affect children’s early development” but point to the need for additional research.

Rx Kids leaders posted their own response to the study on the program’s website, noting that while the research is important, it took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, when child poverty fell as families received pandemic benefits and amid childhood social and learning disruptions, and “should not overshadow decades of research showing that meaningful support to families improves the well-being of children and their communities.”