GOP advances bill to change who qualifies for food aid

The measures would require an asset test for Iowans applying for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, more commonly known as food stamps, as well as for Medicaid, the joint federal and state program that finances health care coverage annually for roughly 805,000 low-income and disabled Iowans. The measures propose the state Department of Health and Human Services enlist a private vendor to verify assets, identity and other eligibility requirements for hundreds of thousands of Iowans participating in public assistance programs involving federal and state benefits no later...