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MHM Advocates for State to Fix Enrollment Problems

Medicaid and CHIP enrollment numbers continue to decrease.

The repercussions of privatizing State functions continue. During the 2003 Legislative session, the State of Texas moved eligibility services for CHIP, Medicaid and other social services to a private vendor. This was done as a way to save State money, and decrease by half the number of State employees in health and Human service areas. While that was supposed to save the State about $20 Million dollars, the contract awarded cost the State $889 Million.

On December 1st, the contract vendor took over the State functions. The vendor name is not as important as the role of the State. This is a State contract, one the State negotiates on behalf of the taxpayers for services. The State is supposed to determine what is needed or what to amend in any contract.

The contract failed to state the following requirements:

The vendor should provide trained personnel who would be able to perform the same functions the State employees provided, with knowledge of the eligibility criteria for each one of the social service programs.
The vendor should be ready, “on-line” the day the contract became effective, not to begin planning and working out logistics on that day.
The vendor should have a software program in place. If the software did not interface with the State software, the vendor should problem-solve to make it work.

All this should have happened before December 1st, but it did not because the State’s contract failed to specify these requirements.

For hard-working parents, it has become much more difficult to maintain health services for their children through the State. This does not constitute a savings, as those children have become sicker and their care more expensive.

MHM’s response has been to advocate for the state to fix the enrollment problems. This is not only a benefit for the families, but a fiscally responsible step.

The state of Texas is double-checking application eligibility, which means state employees are doing the very function the state contracted the vendor to do. This is our tax dollars wasted by an ineffective vendor, and the state must demand that the vendor stop wasting state dollars.

Bexar County continues “missing” over 10,000 children who were previously enrolled in CHIP. This means when a child needs medical help, the local taxpayers will have to share the cost (uncompensated hospital care is funded in part through local property taxes). If the vendor enrollment glitches were fixed, instead of Bexar County losing money, we would gain it, because CHIP and Medicaid dollars bring in additional funds.

MHM will continue with the message loud and clear: The state is ultimately responsible for the inadequacies of the vendor. We expect the state to fix it.