Ali Bers
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alicebers.bsky.social
Ali Bers
@alicebers.bsky.social
380 followers 580 following 37 posts
Director, Massachusetts Medicare Advocacy Project; former Litigation Director @ Center for Medicare Advocacy; interested in health care policy; only my own views here. She/her

Western Mass
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Reposted by Ali Bers
howtoreadthisch.art
I decided to convert dollars to centimeters. That allows us to visualize, for example, the distance between having no money and being at poverty level — about four city blocks.
2/8
November 15, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Reposted by Ali Bers
juliedicaro.bsky.social
"These immediate, predictable, and unchallenged harms facing forty-two million Americans who rely on SNAP benefits -- including fourteen million children -- weigh heavily against a stay."
November 10, 2025 at 5:23 AM
Reposted by Ali Bers
juliedicaro.bsky.social
"(T)ens of millions of Americans rely on
monthly SNAP benefits to pay for food. In support of their motion for a TRO, plaintiffs provided overwhelming evidence of the harms that even a short suspension of benefits would cause, including numerous declarations from SNAP beneficiaries"
The harm from a stay would be immense. The government, understandably, makes no attempt to argue otherwise. As we have already noted, tens of millions of Americans rely on monthly SNAP benefits to pay for food. In support of their motion for a TRO, the plaintiffs provided overwhelming evidence of the harms that even a short suspension of benefits would cause, including numerous declarations from SNAP beneficiaries and those who serve them. Those declarations describe a pregnant mother in Georgia forced to skip meals to feed her son; a working grandfather in Massachusetts who would eat twice instead of three times a day to feed his family; a mother in North Carolina who worries about how feeding her three children less will affect their health; and a nonprofit leader in Rhode Island whose clients will be forced to choose whether to "heat or eat" as the holidays approach and winter bears down on New England.
November 10, 2025 at 5:22 AM
Reposted by Ali Bers
juliedicaro.bsky.social
"The district court determined that the gov't had failed to comply with the order because it did not provide partial payments in a timely manner; it thus ordered the full payment of SNAP funds for Nov. The gov't now asks us to stay that order in its entirety pending its appeal. We deny that request"
RIKELMAN, Circuit Judge. Forty-two million people, one out of every eight Americans, use monthly benefits from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to buy food for themselves and their families. On October 24, 2025, a few weeks into the current government shutdown, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which administers SNAP funding on behalf of the federal government, announced it would not provide any funds for November SNAP benefits. The plaintiffs in this case -- nonprofits, local governments, a union, and a food retailer -- sued to require USDA to provide full November benefits using SNAP contingency funds Congress had appropriated for this very purpose, as well as other funds available to USDA. The district court granted a temporary restraining order requiring the government to provide either full SNAP payments by November 3 or partial payments by November 5. The government elected to provide partial benefits. On Thursday, November 6, the district court determined that the government had failed to comply with the order because it did not provide partial payments in a timely manner; it thus ordered the full payment of SNAP funds for November. The government now asks us to stay that order in its entirety pending its appeal. We deny that reques
November 10, 2025 at 5:09 AM