Each day in July, nearly 60 additional Nebraska families started using a food stamp card to help pay for their groceries.

And an additional 69 low-income people a day qualified for the Medicaid program last month.

For almost a year, in fact, the number of Nebraskans using the two major poverty programs has marched upward, a sign the national recession is taking hold in the state.

"I have to assume it's the economy, because there has been no change in eligibility" said Vivianne Chaumont, director of the Medicaid Division, part of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Medicaid hit a new high in July, with 215,962 people signed up for the health insurance program available to some very low-income Nebraskans.

The increase is most dramatic in younger adults and children, not the aged and disabled, Chaumont said.

Still, Nebraska's Medicaid growth -- at 6.5 percent from July to July -- is one of the lowest in the nation, she said.

Food stamp growth is greater --- 17 percent -- with 142,651 Nebraskans using the program in July.

Nebraska still looks good compared to many other states, where welfare related numbers began their rise two years ago.

"Nebraska was a little slower to come into the recession, said Todd Reckling, director of the Division of Children and Family Services, part of HHS.

Historically, food stamp enrollment has been a way to track changes in poverty, including the effect of recessions, said Becky Gould, executive director of the Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest.

Growth in Nebraska's food stamp program began a steeper climb in October, about the same time Lincoln Food Bank director Scott Young said he began seeing more reports about layoffs.

The July increase, an additional 1,763 families, is the highest single month rise since the mid-1980s, based on state statistics.

All states reported increased food stamp caseloads between April 2008 and April 2009, according to national reports.

And 13 states registered April percentage caseload increases at least 25 percent above the prior April.

Utah was highest with a 45.5 percent increase. Neighbor Colorado had a 28.9 percent increase, according to Food Research and Action Center, a national nonprofit organization.

Nebraska's April-to-April increase was 10 percent, before the dramatic growth in the past three months.

Food stamps is a counter-cyclical program, Gould said.

"When the economy is tough, the number of people in the program increases. When the economy turns around the number decreases," she said.

Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.