STATISTICS: SOCIAL SERVICES


                HIGHLIGHTS OF SOCIAL SERVICES IN WISCONSIN

  Public Welfare - U.S. Bureau of the Census data indicated that during fiscal
year 1984-85
over $69 billion was spent on public welfare by state and local governments
in the United States.
This includes all welfare-related expenditures. such as institutions, medical
payments and direct
aid. Wisconsin spent $1.93 billion or $403.65 per capita. which ranked it
7th among the states.
The District of Columbia ranked 1st (S776.70) and New York 2nd ($595.85),
while Texas ranked
lowest ($136.00).
  State and local welfare expenditures represented S32.42 per $1,000 of personal
income in Wis-
consin, ranking it 6th among the states, while the District of Columbia ($45.62)
and New York
($41.73) again ranked highest, and Nevada lowest ($10.82).
  General Assistance and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) in
Wisconsin
counties during 1986 totaled $623.4 million, granted to over 1.1 million
persons. The average
General Assistance grant was $146.86 and AFDC was $163.61. Milwaukee County
had the
highest AFDC grant total ($240.8 million) and the highest average grant per
recipient ($171.82).
The lowest total was in Florence County ($.5 million); lowest average grant
was in Taylor
County ($139.85).
  Medical Assistance - Medical assistance expenditures in Wisconsin in fiscal
year 1985 totaled
$942.1 million, a 1.1 percent increase over fiscal year 1984. The largest
proportion of total bene-
fits was for providing nursing home care (57.9 percent) and inpatient hospital
services (13.9
percent). These two categories account for over 70 percent of the total,
with the remainder going
for the following services (in rank order): drugs, hospital out-patient,
physician, clinic and
dental.
   A county breakdown of medical assistance in the representative month of
January 1987
reveals a total expenditure of $99.07 million for 230,393 recipients, yielding
an average user
reimbursement of $429.99. The greatest share of total benefits went to the
counties of Milwau-
kee (29.1 percent), Dane (5.3 percent) and Racine (4.4 percent); the least
went to Florence
County (0.1 percent). The highest average user reimbursement per recipient
was in Milwaukee
County ($687.48); Menominee County was lowest ($189.29).
   Institutions - Most state correctional institutions exhibited increases
in their average daily
 population from 1985 to 1986. The number of prisoners on probation and parole
continued to
 increase. A per capita correctional expenditure rate of $47.73 ranked Wisconsin
19th among the
 states in 1985.
   The total average daily number of persons in state mental institutes,
Central State Hospital
 and centers for the developmentally disabled declined from 1985 (2,542)
to 1986 (2,472).
   The following tables present selected data. Consult footnoted sources
for more detailed
 information.


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