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By Aliss Higham
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Texas could face penalties from federal authorities if delays in administering SNAP benefits and medical cover continue.
The Biden administration has sent several letters to Texas officials warning them over persistent delays relating to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, Democratic representative Lloyd Doggett has revealed. Officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMS) have said the state could lose federal funding for the programs if the issues, which include major backlogs in processing benefits and the issuance of health coverage, aren't promptly rectified.
Doggett laid the blame on Governor Greg Abbott. Responding to the letters, he said that "the indifference of Governor Abbott has left millions of vulnerable families without access to a family physician or the ability to put food on the table."
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"While belated actions from USDA and CMS are much needed, Texans will continue to suffer until we have competent state leadership that prioritizes those most in need," he continued. "Any loss of federal funding, even administrative funds, would be a direct result of the Abbott HHSC's [Texas Health and Human Services Commission] failures."
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Newsweek has contacted Greg Abbott by email for comment.
SNAP
Regarding SNAP benefits, the state has been warned it is "out of compliance" due to its Application Processing Timeliness (APT) rate being only 67.3 percent. To meet the USDA's guidelines, 95 percent of applications need to be processed within the federally mandated 30 days for non-expedited cases. Issues have also been raised with the administration of employment and training programs for SNAP recipients.
In 2024, Texas has reduced the backlog of outstanding SNAP applications from 166,000 to 90,000. But USDA officials say the state hasn't moved quickly enough.
"However, for the tens of thousands of families awaiting consideration and approval of benefits, Texas has not addressed the backlog and timeliness issues as urgently as it should," one letter to the HHSC reads.
The Lone Star State has been warned it could lose $8.3 million in SNAP funding if the problems aren't rectified.
Medicaid
Texas has also been warned it's failing to meet APT rates for administering Medicaid coverage. According to the letter from the CMS, states "generally must determine eligibility within 90 days for applicants who apply for Medicaid on the basis of a disability, and 45 days for all other Medicaid and CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program) applicants."
Some 2.1 million Texans lost their Medicaid coverage after pandemic era rules around eligibility checks came to an end in April 2023. Many of these lost coverage due to procedural reasons like outdated information—not because they were no longer eligible.
The CMS said HHSC has inadequate staffing to deal with the flood of application review demands after federal coronavirus policies came to an end, requiring the HHSC to reconsider eligibility for millions of Texans. As a result, the HHSC has ordered a "focused review" by federal officials. If the requested data is not supplied to the CMS by June 21, there will be "formal compliance action."
A spokesperson for the HHSC told Newsweek that it "is taking all possible actions to provide benefits to eligible Texans as quickly as possible."
The spokesperson said the department is "pleased to see CMS and FNS [Food and Nutrition Service] working together to address workload challenges with states like Texas that operate an integrated eligibility system and workforce," and that the department "continues to proactively address the workload challenges that originated with federally mandated continuous Medicaid coverage and subsequent unwind of that coverage."
The department also said it has hired 642 temporary staff to assist with the Medicaid delays and that it has "trained more than 1,000 staff to increase the number of staff able to process combined applications" of SNAP and Medicaid.
Do you live in Texas and claim SNAP? Have your benefits been delayed? Email a.higham@newsweek.com
Update 06/13/24, 5:12 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include comment from the HHSC.
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