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While some individuals have become ineligible because their incomes increased or they were children who aged out of the program, a majority — more than 600,000 — have been disenrolled in Texas because of procedural errors, according to KFF, a health policy research organization. This includes everything from sending in applications in the mail a day late to not including the correct documentation.
Without access to medical care, those who rely on the state’s health insurance — mainly children, but also women who recently gave birth and disabled adults — are left in anxious limbo where one health emergency could strap them with heavy debt.
“Every parent worries about their child getting hurt or seriously ill,” said Michelle Castillo, deputy director for nonprofit Children’s Defense Fund, at a news conference this week. “That fear is magnified when your child's Medicaid case is in limbo.”
The reverberations of state employees being overwhelmed has led to Texans also losing access to their SNAP, or the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, after pandemic protections lifted in March. Around 3.5 million Texans depend on food benefits.
“People are experiencing long delays getting their applications approved and other people may be losing benefits if their renewals don't go through accurately,” said Celia Cole, CEO of the nonprofit Feeding Texas. “It just really increases demand at a time where food banks are already facing a kind of food supply crisis and already struggling to keep up.”
Before the pandemic, SNAP eligibility was checked twice a year. Currently, the waiting period for having an application reviewed is 100 days. The federal standard is 30 days.
/static.texastribune.org/media/images/2013/07/10/Seal_Medicaid_04.jpg)
www.texastribune.org
Texas, oy.
Without access to medical care, those who rely on the state’s health insurance — mainly children, but also women who recently gave birth and disabled adults — are left in anxious limbo where one health emergency could strap them with heavy debt.
“Every parent worries about their child getting hurt or seriously ill,” said Michelle Castillo, deputy director for nonprofit Children’s Defense Fund, at a news conference this week. “That fear is magnified when your child's Medicaid case is in limbo.”
The reverberations of state employees being overwhelmed has led to Texans also losing access to their SNAP, or the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, after pandemic protections lifted in March. Around 3.5 million Texans depend on food benefits.
“People are experiencing long delays getting their applications approved and other people may be losing benefits if their renewals don't go through accurately,” said Celia Cole, CEO of the nonprofit Feeding Texas. “It just really increases demand at a time where food banks are already facing a kind of food supply crisis and already struggling to keep up.”
Before the pandemic, SNAP eligibility was checked twice a year. Currently, the waiting period for having an application reviewed is 100 days. The federal standard is 30 days.
‘An understaffed and broken system’: 900,000 Texans have lost Medicaid as others struggle to access SNAP benefits
Texas Democrats in Congress are urging the federal government to audit the state’s Medicaid eligibility system
www.texastribune.org
Texas, oy.
