AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas kicked off more than a million people from Medicaid this year without checking if they were still eligible for coverage, according to an analysis released the same day the Texas Health and Human Services Commission said its overtime push is helping to start unclog the backlog.
In November, it took an average of 120 days for an application to be touched, according to an internal email. That was cut to 43 days on Dec. 9 and 36 days as of Dec. 14, according to HHSC spokesperson Jennifer Ruffcorn.
The state agency is “taking all possible actions” and “moving aggressively to implement additional strategies” to increase staff and get Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, federal food benefit applications processed faster, she said.
In response to whistleblower employees warning that SNAP wait-times were closing in on 200 days, Gov. Greg Abbott’s office said during the week of Thanksgiving that new changes at HHSC — including moving 250 staff from other projects to focus on expediting SNAP applications and giving 600 new staff Medicaid training to help process combined applications — were expected to “cut the backlog in half by the end of December” — a goal the agency now says has been met.
Still, advocates say help still isn’t coming fast enough for thousands of low-income families who rely on these federal programs.
“It’s concerning at any time of year,” said Stacey Pogue, a senior policy analyst with the Austin-based think tank Every Texan. “It’s even more heartbreaking at the holidays.”
Since pandemic-era Medicaid benefits ended in April, a new analysis from a coalition of children advocates and non-profits found:
- Texas only processed 3 percent of data-based automatic Medicaid renewals, which is the lowest rate in the country, according to KFF.
- 39% of Medicaid applications processed in November took longer than the 45-day federal requirement.
- 1.1 million Texans were kicked off Medicaid due to “procedural” problems.
“There were some errors, errors in the computer programming, in the system for eligibility, that was kicking folks off when they shouldn’t be,” said Pogue.
The study highlighted KXAN reporting, which found 150,000 people were waiting longer than 45days last month. It also points to new HHSC data showing more than 48,000 Medicaid applications have been sitting untouched since at least March.
“People are making really hard choices right now about what do they spend on Christmas gifts, do they fix their car, how are they going to pay rent if what they need to do is pay for health care or food when they’re lacking that assistance,” said Pogue.
HHSC spent $5.5 million in overtime in September and October and $27.3 million between Sept. 1, 2022 – Aug. 31 of this year, Ruffcorn said. The agency has mandated 20 hours of overtime a month since 2020 as part of an ongoing corrective action plan to address long wait-times.
Asked if having employees work extra hours is sustainable, HHSC said it hopes to reduce its “reliance” on overtime.
“Overtime is a tool HHSC uses when necessary to immediately address workload,” said Ruffcorn. “HHSC has experienced a lower turnover rate this past year due to successful recruitment and retention efforts. HHSC monitors closely workload and staffing resources and expects to reduce reliance on mandatory overtime through additional workforce capacity and workload reduction strategies.”
In the last year, the agency hired more than 2100 people and was approved by the legislature to hire 642 full-time employees, Ruffcorn said. The new hires will help with Medicaid redeterminations for six million Texans after pandemic-era coverage guarantees ended this year.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it required Texas to reinstate Medicaid coverage for around 100,000 people in August who were improperly kicked off their coverage due to ‘systems issues,’ which it required the state to fix.
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December 15, 2023 at 07:18AM
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HHSC: Time to start processing Medicaid applications trimmed amid OT push - KXAN.com
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