People in U.S. territories are denied access to Federal Programs most take for granted. Let's get down to the numbers.

The harms are real:

• Programs like Medicaid are capped in the Territories compared to the States, weakening the foundation for public health.
• People in Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa are denied access to SNAP food benefits, but those in Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands are eligible.
• Most elderly, low-income, and disabled people in U.S. territories are denied access to critical SSI benefits, but those in the NMI are eligible.

These examples and many more show that the federal policy of discriminating against people in U.S. territories is both inequitable, but also incomprehensible. This haphazard denial of select programs to the territories follows no consistent rational logic, much less fairness or equitability. 

Right to Democracy and the Cross-Territorial Coalition have embarked on an ambitious project - the Federal Programs in U.S. Territories Matrix - to study this phenomenon more closely. If we comprehensively research the web of federal funding programs what else can we uncover about the breadth and depth of this problem? How could a better understanding of this problem help us advocate for policies that uplift and strengthen the health and welfare of people in U.S. territories?

The Matrix is an initial start. Sampling 150 Federal Formula-Based Programs, we tracked eligibility and usage in the territories. What did we find? Access our two-pager and the full public matrix document below: