Abbott Administration Failures Risk Losing Federal SNAP and Medicaid Funds

Contact: Alexis.Torres@mail.house.gov

Washington, D.C.—As the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) continues to be riddled with backlogs, delays, errors, and failing leadership, families are being denied SNAP food assistance and more than two million Texans have lost access to a family physician and must reapply for Medicaid coverage. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) obtained multiple letters the Biden Administration sent Texas requesting internal data and records and warning of subsequent action if the State continues to violate Federal law.

To read the letter from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), click here. To read the three separate warnings from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), click here, here, and here. The State is required to respond within 30 days to each letter. To read Texas HHSC’s first response, which was due May 29, click here.

Rep. Doggett released the following statement in response:

“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. 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.”

Background:

On May 22, CMS sent a letter to HHSC requiring the State to address the persistent backlog of Medicaid applications and mitigate the harm being caused to applicants. HHSC must respond within 30 days with application processing data, a staffing plan and the number of individuals in need of training, current mitigations or other strategies, and the process for adjudicating applications. If HHSC does not meet this request, the agency may be placed under a corrective action plan.

On May 21, USDA sent two letters to HHSC regarding the State’s continued failure to meet Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) requirements. The agency has 30 days to respond or risks the suspension of federal administrative funds:

1. While states are required to process an application within 30 days of its submission, as of May 3, Texas reported 90,398 backlogged applications with the oldest being from Aug. 21, 2023. Already under a corrective action plan with USDA, HHSC has yet to submit a sufficient plan and must revise it to clearly delineate measurable strategies, goals and objectives.
2. HHSC violated federal law by not implementing new requirements set by the Fiscal Responsibility Act regarding Able-bodied Adults Without Dependents. Although HHSC stated the new provisions were implemented, USDA found discrepancies during an evaluation.

On April 29, USDA sent a letter to HHSC warning the agency that the Employment and Training Program under SNAP remains out of compliance with federal regulations. HHSC failed to provide support and source documents for costs incurred by the program and may be subject to the disallowance of more than $8.3 million in administrative funds. HHSC responded on May 29 with an updated corrective action plan outlining measures previously taken and new actions planned to improve oversight of taxpayer dollars expended on the Employment and Training Program. You can read HHSC’s updated plan, which is pending USDA review, here.

Rep. Doggett’s efforts to address Texas’ Medicaid and SNAP backlogs:

In response to a series of whistleblower reports and an obtained HHSC email, Rep. Doggett has urged CMS and USDA to hold the State accountable and ensure the timely processing of new and backlogged Medicaid and SNAP applications.

• After a July 25 whistleblower report, Rep. Doggett led the entire Texas Congressional Democratic delegation in urging CMS to pause Texas’ Medicaid redetermination process as well as take corrective action. The Members’ letter can be found here.
• On August 21, a second whistleblower report was sent to HHSC.
• On September 19, HHSC whistleblowers sent a third report, detailing further procedural issues. Rep. Doggett led the Texas Democratic delegation in a renewed call to CMS for a pause in procedural terminations of Medicaid coverage until a comprehensive audit of Texas HHSC is conducted. The whistleblowers also revealed HHSC was failing to timely process SNAP applications (30 days)—noting that some hungry families are waiting more than six months for food assistance. Rep. Doggett, joined by the Texas Democratic delegation, sent a letter to USDA urging prompt corrective action. The federal agency heeded this call and is now working with Texas to finalize a corrective action plan on SNAP.
• In November, Rep. Doggett released a fourth whistleblower report detailing significant food assistance delays.
• Shortly before the winter holidays, Rep. Doggett obtained an HHSC email coercing staff into completing 15 hours of voluntary overtime in six days to be entered into a raffle, on top of an already mandated monthly 20 hours of overtime, which has been demanded for the past three years. Rep. Doggett urged CMS to fulfill federal enforcement responsibilities and require a corrective action plan from Texas to come into compliance with Medicaid's timely processing rules. Notably, these applications include beneficiaries who applied for Medicaid before the redeterminations process began as well as thousands of new applications in more recent months, many of whom are likely Texans who lost their coverage because of the disastrous and error-ridden redeterminations process in Texas.