Texas Warned About Medicaid, Food Benefits Delays

The Biden administration has warned Texas officials that the state could face penalties if delays in administering coverage concerning Medicaid and food assistance for low-income households continues.

Texas has been accused of persistent delays relating to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMS) have written the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) about issues such as major backlogs in processing benefits and the issuance of health coverage.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, said he obtained multiple letters the administration sent Texas requesting internal data and records and warning of subsequent action if the state continues to violate federal law.

"The indifference of Governor [Greg] Abbott has left millions of vulnerable families without access to a family physician or the ability to put food on the table," Doggett said in a statement.

"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. Any loss of federal funding, even administrative funds, would be a direct result of the Abbott HHSC’s failures."

More than a million Texans, most of whom are children, lost Medicaid health insurance as paperwork fell through the cracks, Axios reported in November.

States have struggled to recheck the eligibility of Medicaid recipients who were allowed to keep their coverage, regardless of changes in income, during the COVID pandemic.

Texas HHSC spokesperson Tiffany Young told Axios that state officials spent more than a year preparing to recheck Medicaid eligibility for about 6 million people.

"We have open lines of communication with our staff," Young said in an email. "This is a massive undertaking, and when eligibility issues are discovered through our quality assurance process, we work to systematically resolve them to minimize impact to our clients."

Anonymous Texas HHSC employees have warned that delays in administering SNAP benefits were exceeding six months at the end of the year, El Paso Matters reported last month.

To meet the USDA's guidelines, 95% of SNAP applications need to be processed within the federally mandated 30 days for non-expedited cases, Newsweek reported Wednesday.

Texas has been warned it could lose $8.3 million in SNAP funding if the problems continue.