Lawmakers criticize plan to expand troubled public assistance system

Advocates for people with disabilities worry about impact.

By Corrie MacLaggan
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Members of a legislative panel on Monday sharply criticized a plan to nearly triple the number of Medicaid and food stamp cases handled by a troubled computer enrollment system.

Under the plan, Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Albert Hawkins proposed adding about 953,000 elderly and disabled people to the system between December 2008 and September 2009. Some lawmakers and advocates for people with disabilities called that reckless because the state has had problems processing cases in the system as quickly as the federal government requires.

"If this conversion is not totally successful, people will be without services — this is probably the most vulnerable population we have," Colleen Horton of the University of Texas Center for Disability Studies told lawmakers. "It's really unfair to place the burden of the consequences of such a massive, untested conversion" on this group.

The expansion plans for TIERS — Texas Integrated Eligibility Redesign System — comes at a time when the agency is struggling with worker shortages and high turnover. The state has had trouble getting enough workers trained in TIERS, which was designed to modernize the enrollment system.

Several lawmakers said they were surprised to learn of the plan last week from an early copy of Hawkins' testimony Monday to a joint House-Senate committee looking at the enrollment system.

"I'm absolutely shocked and dismayed at what has happened," said state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, "and cannot believe that there is such an obvious attempt to go counter to what I consider legislative intent."

Texas received federal approval to expand TIERS in a limited manner starting this month, but Hawkins said he won't do so until the commission meets a series of benchmarks.

Hawkins said that the agency is working to smooth the conversion and that he will continually evaluate the conversion plan and will not move forward if there are problems. The bulk of the change, which requires approval from the federal agency that oversees food stamps, is set to begin in March.

"It's not etched in stone," Hawkins said of the plan. "It's the plan to guide our efforts, but we're not going to be bound to it."

Additionally, he plans to expand TIERS to other Medicaid and food stamp recipients in Central Texas and the El Paso and Lubbock areas.

The Center for Public Policy Priorities, which is an advocate for low- and middle-income Texans, warned in a report Monday that the state should halt plans to convert any more cases to TIERS until there are enough trained workers to process applications quickly enough to meet federal standards: 30 days for food stamps and 45 days for Medicaid.

In June, Texas completed more than 70 percent of food stamp applications on time in TIERS — an improvement since January but short of the more than 90 percent that were completed on time in the old system in June. Most public assistance enrollment in Texas is still processed using the old system.

Kalese Hammonds of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, which is an advocate for limited government, told lawmakers that delaying TIERS expansion is not the solution — in part because of what keeping two systems is costing taxpayers.

The state spends $1.6 million a month to maintain the system that TIERS was designed to replace, agency spokesman Geoffrey Wool said.

cmaclaggan@statesman.com; 445-3548

Here are some comments posted regarding the article on the website (click title of this post):

lbd82 wrote:
TIERS WILL LITERALLY LEAVE YOU IN TEARS! IT'S A MESS! THE PEOPLE NEEDING THESE PROGRAMS/SERVICES ARE GOING TO BE THE ONES TO SUFFER. I KNOW THERE IS MUCH MORE INVOLVED THAN ANY ONE OF US COULD IMAGINE. BUT WHEN YOU WORK FOR THE STATE YOU KNOW WHAT MAKES SENSE ISN'T WHAT ALWAYS HAPPENS. STAFF ARE JUMPING- NO ONE WANTS TO BE FORCED INTO TIERS! THERE IS NO WAY POSSIBLE TO QUICKLY AND EFFECIENTLY PROVIDE SERVICES IN TIERS WHEN YOU CAN WORK TWICE AS MANY AND 10 TIMES AS FAST IN THE CURRENT PROGRAM. AS A TAX PAYER I'M HIGHLY PISSED OFF THAT MORE AND MORE MONEY IS BEING THROWN INTO THIS PLAN. THE TRAININGS, THE TRAVEL INVOLVED FOR THE TRAINING, THE EFFECTS THE STRESS IS HAVING ON EMPLOYEES HEALTH. THE MORE IT SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE THE MORE IT IS PUSHED TO "ROLL OUT" GIVE ME A BREAK ALREADY! YES STATE EMPLOYEES ARE PAID TO DO THEIR JOB- BUT THERE IS NOT ENOUGH MONEY ANY WHERE THAT WOULD MAKE ME WANT TO WORK CASES IN TIERS!! WE ARE DROWNING IN CASES AS IT IS - YOU CAN'T EFFECIENTLY WORK IN BOTH PROGRAMS AT THE SAME TIME! HOW MUCH MORE MONEY ARE WE GOING TO THROW INTO A PROGRAM THAT DENIES BENEFITS FOR THOSE THAT NEED IT AND GIVE EXTRA TO THOSE THAT AREN'T ELIGIBLE. OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK????
7/15/2008 7:50 PM CDT on Statesman Staging

arnoldbowerfs wrote:
jUST THINK IF THEY ALL QUIT JUST HOW MANY TAX DOLLARS THEY WILL SAVE AND WITHOUT A CLIENT LIST AND A COMPUTER WE WILL NOT NEED SALES TAX MUCH LONGER AND PERHAPS WE CAN GET RID OF HIGH WAY TAX. THE OLD AND SUPPOSELY HANDICAPED OR WHAT HAVE YO WILL ALL BE GONE AND WE WILL NOT NEED ANY TAX IN THE STATE OF TEXAS THEN PERHAPS WE CAN GET RID OF THE IDIOT CALLING HIMSELF GOVERNOR PERRY AND THE CONGRESS; PEOPLE JUST THINK OF THE MONEY WE CAN SAVE FOR THE WORKERS THEMSELVES TO USE RATHER HAVE IT THROWN TO ANCHOR KIDS AND WELFARE FOLKS.. FRANK BOWERS
7/15/2008 1:34 PM CDT

RedEx wrote:
If the agency doesn't do something about workload, there won't be any staff left to work in either system!
7/15/2008 12:00 PM CDT on Statesman Staging

PressProgress wrote:
Many of us in Texas believe that our tax dollars should be used as a collective expression of our values. Ever more often that means ensuring that all Texans have access to adequate food, shelter and health care. TIERS is an effort by the Republican Legislature and administration of the state to reduce the care we offer to individuals so they can continue their personal slush funds to deliver cash to private entities, foreign and domestic (economic development incentives, privatization and toll road contracts to name three vehicles). In the name of updating our technology and being more efficient, we have created the TIERS system to frustrate those applying for help so that more and more just give up or do without for months. How much money has the state "saved" and then delivered to private contractors hands in the name of this efficiency and how many Texans have suffered? To expand this program before the bugs are worked out simply extends the cold shoulder we started in 2003 giving Texans who need help with drastic budget cuts. It is unconscionable to expand implementation of this system before we can make it work for those it should serve.
7/15/2008 10:21 AM CDT on Statesman Staging

Morgan1313 wrote:
Here we go again......the shredding facility in Washington state must need something to do(the DHS contractor in Midland "accidentally" shredded 10,000 active case files 2 years ago leaving 10,000 households with no food, health care and/or TANF).
7/15/2008 1:37 AM CDT on Statesman Staging