AUSTIN (KXAN) — Days after a local congressman asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to investigate months-long delays in Texas, potentially impacting millions of low-income and vulnerable people in the state, the agency is responding.
CMS said in August it required Texas to reinstate Medicaid coverage for around 100,000 people who were improperly disenrolled due to ‘systems issues,’ which it required the state to fix.
“Any person being improperly disenrolled from health care coverage is unacceptable to this administration,” a U.S. Health and Human Services spokesperson said. “HHS’ top priority is people maintaining coverage, whether that is through Medicaid, Medicare, the Marketplace, or employer-sponsored insurance.”
CMS, which is part of HHS, said it will respond directly to U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin. Doggett sent the agency a letter on Monday calling for it to put the Texas Health and Human Services Commission on a corrective action plan following lengthy delays processing Medicaid applications. This week, HHSC acknowledged it’s taking up to 120 days to process combined applications for Medicaid and federal food benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).