Need Help Applying for Public Benefits? Find Answers Saturday in Austin
Corrie MacLaggan
Austin American-Statesman
8/22/2006
Austin American-Statesman
8/22/2006
For Central Texans who have had trouble enrolling in public assistance recently, here's a message from local officials: Try again.
On Saturday, anyone who needs help applying for Medicaid, food stamps, the Children's Health Insurance Program or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families can come to the Austin Convention Center for help. State workers will be on hand to help with applications and answer questions.
The event is sponsored by the local legislative delegation, Mayor Will Wynn and the Austin City Council and nonprofit organizations. It is a response to problems some residents of Hays and Travis counties have had since the state turned over public assistance enrollment for those counties to a private contractor in January.
State officials have halted statewide rollout of the new system until problems with the Central Texas pilot can be resolved.
The problems include eligible Texans being denied services and talking to call center representatives who could not answer their questions.
"To the people who need those services, these glitches are measured in pain and illness untreated by a doctor," state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, said.
Organizers recommend that participants in Saturday's event bring documents to facilitate enrollment, such as birth certificates, driver's licenses and proof of income and residence. For help determining what documents to bring, call insure-a-kid at 324-2447.
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2 comments:
Good luck, Austin. I was helping at the outreach in San Antonio and learned that if it takes 1.5 years to try to get CHIP and after turning in another appl. in 3/06 and being told in 7/06 that your appl. was referred to medicaid in 5/06 then going to the outreach enabled this lady to get referred on that same day - because the 5/06 referral did not occur after all! If this wasn't so sad, it would be comical.
Actually, this got me to thinking...Didn't something like this happen in Florida when part of it's government was privatized? Can you say "Duh!"
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