By DAVE LIEBER - Star-Telegram staff writer - Sun, Oct. 14, 2007
Pat Dapeer said that if The Watchdog didn't believe what she was saying, he should try for himself.
Make phone calls to the state offices that handle the food stamp program. See if anyone answers the telephone. She almost dared me.
The 66-year-old disabled Watauga woman says it's a tossup which is worse: going hungry or dealing with the food stamp bureaucracy.
Let me summarize how my telephone testing of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission offices went.
Ring ... ring ... ring. No answering machine of any kind on calls to a local food stamp office. Just ring ... ring ... ring.
On some other phone lines I tested, an automated voice machine answered the phone and led me through prompts. But the voice system doesn't let you go backward. If you hit a wrong button, it tells you to call again before saying, "Goodbye." On another customer-assistance line, I called a half-dozen times to hear all the choices, which usually led me to more automated voice systems or the dreaded ring ... ring ... ring.
Twice, I found human beings on the other end of an HHS phone. But these people I spoke to from HHS didn't argue when I told them of Dapeer's frustrations. They know.
"A huge problem," HHS spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman said. "For years, we had high caseloads and antiquated technology and phone systems in our offices. We've been trying to undergo an effort to modernize."
The ringing phones are fallout from a major experiment in state government that nearly everyone involved calls a disaster. Texas tried to become the first state to outsource to private companies the administration of its top assistance programs such as food stamps, Medicaid and cash assistance for needy families.
The state hired a group of companies, led by technology consulting firm Accenture, for $899 million for five years to run call centers, update the department's technology systems and perform other duties. But the company's debut in several Central Texas call centers was such a disaster that state officials called the project off. By then, though, many longtime state employees had left, thinking their jobs were gone.
The results are skimpy front lines of state workers helping those needing assistance. Those who need to call these phone numbers for assistance include applicants who are denied benefits and wish to appeal, disabled people who can't travel and people like Dapeer who have questions about existing benefits.
Governing magazine published a September report on "The Struggle to Streamline" that said Texas' venture into privatization "turned into a dark comedy of bungled work; unanswered and dropped calls; applications lost, ignored and misdirected."
Dapeer said: "Just because we're on food stamps is no reason for us to put up with that type of service. We lose our pride when we have to do that to begin with, and when we have to go through the other garbage we have to deal with, well, that just puts us lower on the totem pole."
When Dapeer couldn't get anywhere with HHS officials in solving the problem with her benefits, she complained to the Texas attorney general's office.
Suddenly, HHS officials were answering her calls and trying to work with her.
"A person shouldn't have to go to the attorney general to get something done," she said.
HHS spokeswoman Goodman says that changes are in the works. New telephone systems are coming for 22 of more than 300 field offices. Most of the 22 are in urban areas, where phones are less likely to be answered. The Fort Worth office on John T. White Road is scheduled for new phones, she says. Other offices will have to wait.
The Watchdog's testing of the phone system yielded a few results that should embarrass the state:
The operator's phone at the John T. White Road office in Fort Worth was never picked up.
A voice on an automated phone system directs callers to a different phone number if they want information. But information on what? The voice mumbles. I listened a half-dozen times: It sounded like "E-did-ity." Turned out to be "EBT" -- a reference to Electronic Benefit Transfer cards used to deliver food stamp benefits. But many people don't know what an EBT is. The state has called these the Lone Star Card. Why not use that name?
I gleaned the number for the commission's ombudsman, to whom clients can make formal complaints about poor service, from a voice prompt on one of the HHS customer-service lines. When I called, I was left on hold for close to an hour (with smooth jazz) before I gave up. An automated voice kept interrupting the jazz to persuade me to call other numbers because the wait was so long. But those numbers sent me back to other lines on which I had no success.
One hot-line worker I spoke with said she didn't have a directory of phone numbers of other HHS offices. What do you do when you need a number? I asked. Her answer: "I do a Google search."
If you press a wrong number, a voice prompt says the following before disconnecting you: "I'm sorry. That is not a valid choice. Please call again. Goodbye." Arrgghh.
The phones aren't the only issue. In a few smaller offices, Goodman said, HHS staffers still use typewriters instead of computers. "We know that our current system is not easy for the consumer to use," Goodman said. "It's not easy for our workers, and it's costly for taxpayers. There are so many areas where we can use technology more effectively to support our work force and provide better customer service."
News researcher Stacy Garcia contributed to this report.
In the know
These are the phone numbers that clients of Health and Human Services are supposed to use for help and information. However, note that The Watchdog had problems with several of them.
HHS office at 7450 John T. White Road in Fort Worth: 817-446-5400.
Lone Star Card help desk: 1-800-777-7328.
Customer assistance hot line: 1-800-448-3927
HHS customer service: 1-888-834-7406
Ombudsman: 1-877-787-8999
HHS main headquarters in Austin: 512-424-6500
For information about various social services available in your community, call 211
Facts about food stamps
Who is eligible? Food stamp assistance is available only to people with Social Security numbers.
Is there a work requirement? With certain exceptions, able-bodied adults between ages 16 and 60 must register for work, take part in any employment and training program that they are referred to by the food stamp department, and accept any offer of suitable work.
How long can you get food stamps? Generally, able-bodied adults ages 18 to 50 who do not have children and are not pregnant can get food stamps for only three months in a three-year period unless they are working or participating in a work or workfare program.
How many needy Texans are helped? In October 2007, there were 2.3 million Texans (in 912,102 households) receiving food stamps. Texas places 41st among 50 states in the percentage of eligible people receiving food stamps, well below the national average of 54 percent, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department.
How much are the benefits? Benefits are about $59 a week for the average household of 2.5 people, the state says. That's about $1.12 per person per meal.
What can they be used for? Benefits cannot be used to buy nonfood items such as pet food, soap, paper products, household supplies, alcohol, tobacco, vitamins, medicine or hot foods.
Sources: U.S. Agriculture Department, the Brookings Institution, Texas Health and Human Services Commission
watchdog@star-telegram.com
The Watchdog column appears Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays in the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
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