• Corbett raises limit on assets for food stamps, but critics blast the idea of a test, By Alfred Lubrano, February 2, 2012, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Modifying its original proposal, the Corbett administration is raising the amount of assets a person can have to retain food stamps, drawing the ire of critics who say the asset test itself is improper. The state Department of Public Welfare on Wednesday announced that households with people under age 60 will be limited to $5,500 in assets. For households with people 60 and above, the figure is $9,000. Houses, retirement benefits, and one car would not be counted as assets. Any additional vehicle worth more than $4,650 would be counted. Asset testing will begin May 1…”
• Pa.’s food stamp asset test will be easier than planned, By Karen Langley, February 2, 2012, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “The state said Wednesday that it is easing limits of an asset test it plans to reinstate for Pennsylvanians receiving food stamps. A total of 4,000 households are expected to lose their food stamps under the revised proposal by the state Department of Public Welfare. The plan sparked criticism from Democrats and advocates for the poor when it became public last month. Older people and the disabled with more than $9,000 in assets would no longer qualify for food stamps under a plan submitted Wednesday to federal officials. Those under age 60 would be disqualified if they have more than $5,500 in assets…”
• Conn. working to fix troubled food stamps program, By Susan Haigh (AP), February 4, 2012, Boston Globe: “While a fraud scandal cast a cloud over a special emergency food aid program following Hurricane Irene, the state is working to address deeper troubles that have plagued the traditional food stamps program, including high error rates, slow response times and an antiquated computer system. Connecticut is ranked last among all the states and territories for processing applications for the federal program in a timely manner. In 2006, the state was processing 81 percent of applications on a timely basis. But that dropped to 59 percent in 2010 and the head of the Connecticut Department of Social Services said the current rate is even worse…”

Pennsylvania still lacks computerized child welfare system network, By Kari Andren, November 20, 2011, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “Four-year-old Kristen Tatar’s emaciated body was wrapped in garbage bags, stuffed inside a picnic cooler and left out with the trash at her parents Armstrong County home. Her death in 2003 brought calls for creation of a computerized network that would allow all counties and the state to share information about children receiving child welfare services anywhere in Pennsylvania. Eight years later, that network does not exist…”

Oregon overpays $392 million in unemployment benefits, fraud investigators swamped, By Richard Read, October 28, 2011, The Oregonian: “As unemployment insurance claims ballooned during the past few years, Oregon overpaid more than $392 million in benefits, a U.S. Labor Department analysis shows. That’s about 12 percent of almost $3.5 billion paid in benefits during the three years that ended in June. Some of the money went out the door innocently enough, paid before the Oregon Employment Department determined a recipient was ineligible for benefits. But other checks went to people who fraudulently collected unemployment without looking for work, or who found a job and continued claiming benefits. Either way, Oregon officials aim to recover the money, which originates from employers, not individual taxpayers. But they say fraud cases have swamped the Employment Department, where caseloads at one point reached 400 per investigator, up from 150 before the recession…”

Taking pulse of Medicaid costs, By Cathleen F. Crowley, October 25, 2011, Albany Times-Union: “Guy Amisano’s soda company sold cases of Pepsi all over Western New York, but he never could put his finger on which sales were the most profitable or whether his price discounts paid off. So in the 1980s, Amisano hired some computer geeks to build a software program to track sales and costs in real time. ‘I was able to see precisely what and to whom I should sell and at what price to achieve optimal profitability without losing volume,’ Amisano said. His profits rose 20 percent and his company grew significantly. Over the next 14 years, Amisano ran Pepsi-Cola Elmira Bottling Co. while selling his computer program on the side. More than half of the beverage industry bought it. In 2000, his family sold the Horseheads-based bottling company to focus on the visual datamining software under a business called Salient Management Company. Now New York’s Medicaid system — the largest in the nation — uses Salient’s software to track the public health program’s $52 billion annual budget, 4.7 million recipients and 60,000 health care providers. Medicaid is the public health insurance program for low-income and disabled people. For the first time, top health officials say they can see where Medicaid dollars are going in real time…”

States retool food stamp, benefits systems, By Pamela M. Prah, October 21, 2011, Stateline.org: “Food stamp applicants in California and Texas no longer have to be fingerprinted, a change both states hope will save money and improve the process of distribution. That makes Arizona and New York City the only remaining jurisdictions that fingerprint - a requirement that opponents say scares off the needy from applying for food stamps while doing little to combat fraud. The changes in California and Texas reflect a larger movement at the state level, spurred on by the recession and a record number of Americans getting food stamps and other public assistance: States are trying to make it easier for those seeking help and cheaper for state workers who process the applications and provide the benefits…”

FSSA hopes new hybrid system aids service, By Dorothy Schneider, October 16, 2011, Lafayette Journal and Courier: “Richard Graves has had his share of frustration in dealing with the local office for the Indiana Department of Families and Social Services Administration. He can recount tales of lost paperwork and unreturned phone calls, as he has worked to oversee his granddaughter’s Medicaid coverage. ‘I haven’t talked to the caseworker in two years,’ Graves said. Complaints about the state’s FSSA case management are nothing new, but Indiana officials are hoping they lessen as ongoing improvements to the application system are rolled out across the state…”

• Lower Medicaid dispensing fees may pressure pharmacies, By Claire Cardona, October 14, 2011, New York Times: “In Rio Grande City, Rene Martinez’s Starr Pharmacy has one line for Medicaid patients and another for non-Medicaid patients. On some days, most of his clients can be found waiting on the Medicaid line, a testament to the importance of that federal-state health insurance program in this poor city along the Texas-Mexico border - and to Mr. Martinez’s bottom line. His store is one of a number of independent pharmacies in Texas that may have to lay off workers and cut services like free delivery to homebound patients because of looming lower dispensing fees. Beginning in March, a new managed-care plan goes into effect that reduces the amount pharmacies receive for filling Medicaid prescriptions…”
• Medicaid stand-in rebuffed by feds, By Niki Kelly, Journal Gazette, October 1, 2011, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “The federal government on Friday rejected Indiana’s proposal to use its Healthy Indiana insurance plan in place of a Medicaid expansion beginning in 2014. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a letter that the state’s request was premature because rules related to the expansion have not yet been finalized and encouraged Indiana to apply again in the future…”
• Medicaid overhaul saves $600M, By Casey Seiler, October 6, 2011, Albany Times-Union: “The first phase of the state’s attempt to overhaul its health insurance program for low-income residents has achieved almost $600 million in savings in its first six months, according to a progress report released Wednesday. Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team gathered at The Egg to hear team reports and receive a demonstration of the Medicaid Visual Data Mining system, which allows state officials and health care managers to track spending in a more targeted and quick-response fashion. ‘We are now live-managing the program,’ said Greg Allen of the state Department of Health, who demonstrated how the system could be used to track anomalies that could indicate possible fraud or other problems. State Health Commissioner Nirav Shah suggested the data tool could be used by hospitals to track re-admission rates due to infections or other phenomena…”

Ineligible Medicaid recipients cost Va. millions, By Jim Nolan, October 13, 2011, Richmond Times-Dispatch: “Errors by local Department of Social Services caseworkers in enrolling ineligible Medicaid recipients are responsible for the greatest number of improper payments in Virginia’s share of the program, according to an extensive review by the legislature’s watchdog agency. It found that the state’s administration of the Medicaid program is overly complex and not automated. It also needs investments in technology and greater oversight to guarantee it is not overpaying managed-care organizations for services. Errors in enrolling ineligible recipients could have cost the state somewhere between $18 million and $263 million in fiscal 2009, according to the report - requested by lawmakers in 2010 and presented Tuesday to lawmakers by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission…”

• Medicaid change delayed, By Dale Wetzel (AP), September 16, 2011, Jamestown Sun: “A chronically delayed new computer software system to handle North Dakota’s Medicaid bills, which was to be finished in nine months, will not be working until mid-2013, an executive told state legislators Thursday. The project was originally scheduled to be finished two years ago. Last summer, a vice president for the software’s developer, Affiliated Computer Services Inc., promised it would be functioning by June 2012. ACS is a unit of Xerox Corp…”
• Utah explores extending Medicaid to inmates, By Kirsten Stewart, September 15, 2011, Salt Lake Tribune: “Utah health officials are exploring expanding the state’s Medicaid program to cover inmates’ hospital stays and doctors’ office visits. Inmates have traditionally been barred from the state-federal health insurance program, which caters to the poor and disabled. Currently, the Department of Corrections contracts directly with the University of Utah’s hospital and clinics for procedures that cannot be handled at the prison infirmary, and the state picks up the tab. Moving inmates onto Medicaid would shift most of the funding burden onto the federal government, explained state Medicaid director Michael Hales on Thursday at an advisory board meeting. In the past, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has been loathe to shoulder what has long been a state obligation, said Hales. But the agency has recently signaled a willingness to bend the rules…”
• Calif. Medicaid expansion: A lifeline for ex-convicts, By Sarah Varney, September 13, 2011, National Public Radio: “California has embarked on an ambitious expansion of its Medicaid program, three years ahead of the federal expansion that the health law requires in 2014. At least half a million people are expected to gain coverage - mostly poor adults who never qualified under the old rules because they didn’t have kids at home. Among those who stand to benefit right now are ex-offenders. Inmates often leave California prisons with no consistent place to get medical care. But that’s changing…”

Ind. FSSA welfare ‘hybrid’ poised to expand, By Eric Bradner, July 24, 2011, Evansville Courier and Press: “A year and a half ago, Indiana’s human services agency decided to scrap some parts of its ‘modernization’ effort and replace it with a new way of handling welfare benefits. The Family and Social Services Administration piloted its ‘hybrid’ system - one that combined the technological advances of the botched effort and the in-person touch that existed before 2008 - in 10 Southwestern Indiana counties. Eighteen months later, the state is expanding that hybrid way of determining whether Hoosiers qualify for welfare and delivering those benefits to 72 of Indiana’s 92 counties. A look at data on error rates, timeliness, case backlogs and more show that across the board, the hybrid system is outperforming its two predecessors - the paper-based system in place before 2008, and the computerized one in place after that…”

Concern for vast social services database on the city’s neediest, By Anemona Hartocollis, June 16, 2011, New York Times: “New York City has spent the past 18 months developing a database on four million residents, most of them the city’s neediest, which officials say will enhance social services but which advocates for the poor say could put their privacy at risk. Using data-sharing concepts developed by the Department of Homeland Security and other law enforcement agencies, the database links together vast amounts of information gathered by city agencies that previously maintained their files separately. Now, workers in an array of city departments will have access to information about nearly half of the city’s residents, including welfare and food stamp payments, child care vouchers, and records of Medicaid enrollment and stays in public housing and shelters, among other kinds of social service records…”

Federal audit targets delays, errors in Colorado’s benefits computer system, By Michael Booth, February 13, 2011, Denver Post: “Persistent delays and errors in the state computer system for Medicaid and food stamps have prompted federal officials to launch an ongoing performance review of Colorado’s multibillion-dollar benefit programs. The long-troubled Colorado Benefits Management System continued to malfunction after the federal review got underway last summer, with lockouts and slowdowns plaguing managers through at least December, documents obtained by The Denver Post show. Repeated internal complaints about system crashes also have raised questions about a $44 million contract with Deloitte consultants to overhaul a network that has proved problematic since its installation in 2004 at a cost of $223 million. Disclosure of the new federal audit, after an open-records request, comes as legal-aid attorneys continue their pursuit of court sanctions against the state Health Care Policy and Financing Department for delays in processing benefit records. Those delays have exceeded 70 percent of cases in some months…”

New Medicaid computer system plagued with glitches, By Sean Collins Walsh, December 4, 2010, Seattle Times: “Washington’s new computer system for processing Medicaid payments is failing to pay so many valid claims that several doctors and clinics have stopped taking new Medicaid patients until they get paid for the ones they’ve already treated. Others say they may need to do the same, or even stop treating Medicaid patients altogether. The Web-based program, ProviderOne, was $54 million more expensive and three years later than planned when it launched in May, replacing a mainframe system for processing claims submitted by health-care providers on behalf of the state’s poorest patients…”

Welfare boss says backlog, errors fall, By Ken Kusmer (AP), Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “Indiana human services chief Anne Murphy told a legislative panel Tuesday that the face-to-face contact for clients that she has added to the state’s error-plagued welfare automation system is showing success, but lawmakers said many problems remain. Murphy, secretary of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, said error rates are down and the percentage of new applications for food stamps, Medicaid and other benefits on backlog has fallen by 83 percent or more in southwest and west-central Indiana after her agency made the changes in those two regions. ‘Hybrid is what’s driving down this percentage,’ Murphy told the Medicaid Oversight Commission. FSSA rolled out the ‘hybrid’ system to 10 southwest counties in January and 11 west-central counties in June. The agency added 16 more southern counties this month…”

Indiana, IBM trade suits over welfare contract, Associated Press, May 13, 2010, Wall Street Journal: “Indiana and its former partner in welfare privatization, International Business Machines Corp., sued each other Thursday over the technology giant’s canceled 10-year, $1.37 billion contract to automate the state’s intake for food stamps, Medicaid and other benefits. Both lawsuits were filed in Marion County courts in Indianapolis. In its lawsuit, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration is seeking to recover the $437.6 million it paid IBM through Jan. 31, plus the costs of any third-party lawsuits, federal penalties, and state employee overtime that it incurs as a result of its association with the Armonk, N.Y., company. The state is seeking triple damages, or more than $1.3 billion, as it is entitled to do under state law. It accused IBM of intentionally denying benefits to clients to make its performance appear better and giving the state agency false and misleading information…”

• Indiana ‘hybrid’ welfare program set to expand, By Niki Kelly, May 11, 2010, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “The Family and Social Services Administration announced Tuesday the next region for its new ‘hybrid’ welfare eligibility system is an 11-county area that includes Vigo, Parke and Monroe counties. The expansion is dependent on federal approval. FSSA on Monday released statistics showing that adding more local welfare workers in 10 southwestern Indiana counties under a pilot hybrid system has cut the problems that clients have had with Indiana’s privatized, automated benefits system…”
• Officials: Changes in welfare cut complaints, By Mary Beth Schneider, May 11, 2010, Indianapolis Star: “Armed with evidence that the changes made to welfare delivery in a 10-county pilot project are working, the state will announce today whether it will expand the program to more areas of Indiana. Gov. Mitch Daniels pulled the plug on a $1.34 billion IBM contract for a centralized welfare intake system in October. The Family and Social Services Administration replaced it with a hybrid program, combining modernization and computerization of records with the face-to-face contact between caseworkers and clients that was the hallmark of past welfare systems…”

Welfare caseloads rise, cause frustration, By Catherine Jun, April 5, 2010, Detroit News: “State welfare workers are juggling an astronomical number of requests for help, causing delays in emergency benefits to families and in some cases kicking them erroneously off welfare, according to state employees and welfare recipients. And in crowded welfare offices around the state, the frustration of families waiting for food, medical or cash assistance is reportedly boiling over, with threats and assaults against caseworkers. ‘They’re just frustrated with us. We can’t get their work processed fast enough,’ said Nancy Opatich, who works at the Michigan Department of Human Services office in Warren and who testified before a Michigan House subcommittee in the fall. Since 2001, the welfare assistance caseload in Michigan has dramatically swelled to 2.4 million cases, triple that of 2002, raising per-worker caseloads to 740 from 320…”

• Food stamp frustration is valid, state audit report says, By Corrie MacLaggan, March 30, 2010, Austin American-Statesman: “Applying for food stamps in Texas can be quite a chore, according to a new state auditor’s report. Need to ask a basic question? Forget the phone. Workers often don’t have time to answer questions by phone and their voice mailboxes tend to be full, the report says. Instead, applicants ‘make unnecessary trips to a local office, in which they sometimes sit for hours just to ask a question or submit a document,’ says the report released Tuesday by State Auditor John Keel. ‘Crowded lobbies, long waits, and delays in eligibility determinations clearly resulted in frustrated clients,’ the report said. The report describes an inefficient system in which 80 percent of cases are kept on paper and a lack of experienced workers is contributing to problems processing applications accurately and within the 30 days required by the federal government. It recommends using technology such as automated kiosks and allowing applicants to check the status of cases online, an option the state now makes available only to certain applicants…”
• State auditor questions social services agency’s no-bid deal with ex-colleague to fix welfare problems, By Robert T. Garrett, March 31, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “State Auditor John Keel has questioned why state social services officials awarded work to a former colleague without seeking other bids, when his offer to curtail processing errors is good for only one-fifth of Texas’ 3.3 million food-stamp recipients. Keel also chided Health and Human Services Commission officials for seeking help last summer from former deputy commissioner Gregg Phillips’ company, though they ignored for nearly two years a similar offer by a Plano firm already on contract. Earlier this month, The Dallas Morning News reported that Phillips, who played a major role in the state’s botched privatization of eligibility screening for assistance programs, is making money trying to help Texas fix the problems that resulted…”
• Human Services to lay off 228 workers, By Mary Vorsino, March 30, 2010, Honolulu Advertiser: “The state Department of Human Services will lay off nearly half of its 517 workers who process applications for government benefits and will shut down 31 eligibility offices statewide under a cost-cutting plan set to go into effect June 30. The plan, which has been strongly opposed by advocates for the poor and several lawmakers, is expected to save about $8 million and DHS officials say it will actually speed up wait times by allowing people to apply on-line and over the phone, congregating workers in two main offices and streamlining workloads. The plan comes at a time when DHS is seeing increases in requests for Medicaid, cash assistance, food stamps and child care subsidies as families struggle to make ends meet. The increase in applications has meant significantly longer backlogs in processing requests for help…”
• Disputed welfare practices don’t hold up in court, By Jon Murray, March 31, 2010, Indianapolis Star: “When Gov. Mitch Daniels pulled the plug in October on a privatization contract that was the cornerstone of an aggressive welfare services modernization plan, he said it simply didn’t work. But the arrangement’s inefficiency, lost paperwork and wrongly denied benefits weren’t the only problems. A judge has ruled that parts of the modernization push also violated the law. Two recent rulings from a Marion County judge and a third from Clay County delivered a new slap to the state’s welfare services agency over several practices, including the handling of denials for some benefits and appeals for others. The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration is forging ahead by testing a new ‘hybrid’ plan in some places. In the meantime, dozens of counties still operate with vestiges of the aborted modernization attempt — and with one of the two disputed practices…”

State further behind handling food stamps, medical benefits, By Brent Jones, March 15, 2010, Baltimore Sun: “Three months after a judge ordered the state to speed up delivery of food stamps and medical benefits to low-income Maryland residents, the problem has worsened, court filings show. At the end of January, the state’s Department of Human Resources was operating at an 81 percent compliance rate processing those requests, down 2.5 percentage points from the previous month, according to papers filed in Baltimore Circuit Court…”

Paperwork maze endangering Colorado Medicaid patients, By Allison Sherry, March 3, 2010, Denver Post: “As Denver County and state attorney general investigators probe why an asthmatic boy on Medicaid couldn’t get his medication and died, advocates say eligibility glitches are a daily headache causing life-threatening problems for the poor. Since the recession drove thousands more people to the public safety net, advocacy lawyers have received an increasing number of calls from people unable to get health care or prescription drugs - even though they carry Medicaid or Child Health Plan Plus eligibility cards. ‘I deal with this every day. There is some problem, someone I have to call, and it hurts care,’ said Michelle Tafoya, an intake worker at Rose Pediatrics and herself a victim of a computer glitch. When Tafoya went to get antidepressants for her oldest son earlier this year, the system said he had no pharmacy benefits - even though he was enrolled in Child’s Health Plan Plus, or CHP. Because Tafoya battles with Medicaid discrepancies for a living, she asked the pharmacy for a loan on the drugs and started calling CHP contractors every day…”

Long delays in Colorado food aid may spur another lawsuit, By Allison Sherry, February 1, 2010, Denver Post: “Two years after the state promised to solve the long delays in its food- stamp and Medicaid programs, lawyers say there has not been enough improvement and are weighing whether to take the state back to court. Colorado is out of compliance with a legal settlement reached in 2007 that requires food stamps and Medicaid to be delivered within federal time frames, typically 30 days after an application is filed for food stamps and 45 days for Medicaid. Thousands of Coloradans are waiting beyond that. Roughly 19 percent of new food- stamp applications were delayed statewide in October. For Medicaid, 18 percent of new applicants didn’t get timely benefits that month, according to lawyers who get the data from the state as part of the 2007 settlement…”

• Indiana agency begins hybrid welfare plan rollout, By Ken Kusmer (AP), January 26, 2010, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “Indiana’s human services agency said Tuesday the state’s third try at effectively enrolling and keeping people on food stamps and other welfare benefits has begun rolling out, but one affected caretaker said the frustrations keep mounting. The Family and Social Services Administration said it has begun implementing what it’s calling a hybrid welfare intake system, involving caseworkers and some automation, in 10 southwestern Indiana counties. It follows the agency’s aborted bid to turn over highly automated welfare intake to private vendors - a plan designed to replace an outdated, paper-based casework system - that remains in 33 counties…”
• Indiana agency begins hybrid welfare plan rollout, By Eric Bradner, January 26, 2010, Evansville Courier and Press: “The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration rolled out its pilot ‘hybrid’ system for processing welfare applications in a swath of 10 Southwestern Indiana counties on Tuesday. The rollout means the state’s human services agency now has three ways of handling applications for Medicaid, food stamps and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families operating simultaneously. The hybrid pilot is now in place in Daviess, Dubois, Gibson, Knox, Perry, Pike, Posey, Spencer, Warrick and Vanderburgh counties. The recently abandoned ‘modernization’ effort, which severely restricted face-to-face interaction with agency workers and instead had those seeking benefits apply online or by phone, remains in 49 counties.

Stalled upgrade delays unemployment checks, By Tom Abate, January 19, 2010, San Francisco Chronicle: “At a time when nearly 800,000 jobless Californians depend on timely unemployment checks, the state has been sitting on more than $50 million in federal funds set aside in 2003 to upgrade antiquated computer and call center systems designed to make the Employment Development Department more responsive. State officials acknowledge that this delay helps explain why it took the department five weeks last year to resume payments to Californians who had exhausted their benefits before Congress authorized a payment extension in November. Ironically, the department already has begun to spend some of the $60 million in federal funds that it received just last spring to modernize other unrelated portions of the ’70s-era software that runs the state’s unemployment systems…”

Hybrid welfare system to roll out, By Ken Kusmer (AP), January 19, 2010, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “Indiana’s human services agency is expected to roll out its hybrid welfare intake program, aimed at correcting problems that arose when it tried to privatize the system, in 10 southwestern counties next week. The Family and Social Services Administration had said that it would roll out the hybrid system in the counties around Evansville in January, and last week spokesman Marcus Barlow said the change probably would occur during the last week of the month. Documents obtained by The Journal Gazette in December indicated Vanderburgh County - an early participant in privatization in 2007 and a squeaky wheel in bringing problems to light - was being considered as the first area to launch the new system. Under the hybrid system, which follows the state’s aborted effort to turn welfare intake over to private vendors, many state and private caseworkers will shift from call centers into local offices to give people more personal contact with those making decisions about their food stamps, Medicaid and other benefits…”

• U.S. food stamp official: State could be aiding more Texans, By Corrie MacLaggan, January 12, 2010, Austin American-Statesman: “Texas could be providing food stamps to 650,000 more people and could increase the amount of federal money it receives for the program each year from $4 billion to $5 billion if the state increased its participation rate to the national average, according to President Barack Obama’s top food stamp official. But Texas officials, who are struggling with a strained application system, say increasing participation is not their goal…”
• Official: Food-stamp application flubs hurt hungry Texas families, By Robert T. Garrett, January 13, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Texas’ botched experiment with privatization of welfare application screening has caused “a five-year slide” in how fast and accurately the state handles food stamp applications, the federal government’s top food and nutrition official says. Now, the problems are punishing middle-class Texans who’ve recently lost jobs and are seeking government help - many, for the first time, says U.S. Agriculture Undersecretary Kevin Concannon…”
• Official: Texas has worst-ranked food stamp program, By Gary Scharrer, January 12, 2010, Houston Chronicle: “Texas has the worst performing food stamp program in the nation, the federal director for food assistance told state officials here Tuesday. It ranks last among the 50 states and U.S. territories in processing food stamp applications and also does a poor job getting eligible low-income people to apply, said Kevin Concannon, a U.S. Department of Agriculture undersecretary, in an earlier meeting with reporters. And because Texas does not even come close to the national average in enrolling those eligible, grocery retailers like H-E-B and Randalls are missing out on nearly $1 billion a year in food sales, he said…”

• Jobless Floridians encounter delays in getting extended unemployment benefits, By Jeff Harrington, December 16, 2009, St. Petersburg Times: ” Nearly six weeks after President Barack Obama extended unemployment benefits in hard-hit states like Florida, Janet Husted of St. Petersburg is still waiting for her first check. Like thousands of Floridians, Husted can blame the waiting game on slow technology and bad timing. Floridians who happened to exhaust their unemployment benefits after Nov. 1 were automatically enrolled to receive the new round of extended benefits, so their weekly checks kept flowing. Those whose benefits had expired before November, however, had to reapply with the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation…”
• State’s computers hold up extension of jobless benefits, By John Diedrich, December 13, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “The federal government’s latest extension of unemployment benefits passed in early November, but jobless people in Wisconsin have yet to see the money. State officials said Friday the delay was because of computer programming requirements that come with federal funds. They expect the first checks to be mailed Wednesday. President Barack Obama signed the extension at the end of the first week of November - the sixth extension of unemployment benefits during the recession. A delay of more than 30 days is not unusual, said Chris Marschman, spokesman with the state Department of Workforce Development…”
• Bill would extend programs for unemployed, By Deb Price, December 15, 2009, Detroit News: “Congress would extend the cut-off dates for two critical programs for laid-off Michiganians by two months under a deal announced today. House-Senate conferees working on the Department of Defense appropriations bill reset the expiration dates for expanded unemployment benefits and for a federal subsidy to help laid-off workers pay the premium on COBRA health insurance. ‘It is vital that we maintain these programs for people who are unemployed and actively looking for work,’ said Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak. The two-month provisions in the DOD bill are critical to Michigan, which is reeling from an unemployment rate of 15.1 percent, the highest in the nation. The national unemployment rate is 10.2 percent…”

• Error inflates Missouri food stamp numbers, By Chad Livengood, December 15, 2009, Springfield News-Leader: “The state of Missouri has been over-counting the number of residents getting food stamp assistance for seven years — by more than a quarter of a million people in September. The reporting error inflated the number of Missourians on food stamps in September by 263,408 — from 855,408 to the reported 1,119,067, according to the Department of Social Services, which administers the food stamp program. The reporting error, which did not lead to additional food stamps being issued, was apparently caused by a computer coding error dating back to 2002, said DSS spokesman Scott Rowson…”
• Missouri reported inflated food stamp figures to feds, By David A. Lieb (AP), December 14, 2009, Kansas City Star: “Missouri acknowledged Monday that it reported inflated numbers of food stamp recipients to the federal government, calling into question millions of dollars of bonuses paid to the state for running one of the nation’s top-flight programs. The Department of Social Services said a computer programming error has consistently exaggerated the figures submitted since September 2002. For example: the agency reported more than 1.1 million food stamp recipients this September. It now says the actual number may be closer to 855,000. The errors generally occurred when one of several food stamp participants in a household left - and thus no longer was receiving benefits - but still was counted by the computer-generated report as if he or she remained in the home…”

• Overhaul of state welfare will debut next month, By Will Higgins and Robert Annis, December 14, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “The long-awaited overhaul of Indiana’s ailing welfare program will begin next month in the southern part of the state, a step key to salvaging a system hobbled by a failed attempt at privatization. The new system of delivering food stamps, Medicaid and temporary assistance for needy families will debut in 10 counties in the Evansville area, said Marcus Barlow, a spokesman for the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, the state agency responsible for dispensing benefits. FSSA released details Sunday of what it calls a ‘hybrid plan’ that will keep the best aspects of the automated system but add more personal contact between caseworkers and clients. The agency said the changes will improve state oversight of the private portions of the system, keep better tabs on documents submitted by clients and move more workers from call centers to county welfare offices…”
• FSSA to test hybrid welfare system, By Ken Kusmer (AP), December 14, 2009, Fort Wayne News-Sentinel: “Under fire for problems since it automated and privatized its welfare intake system, Indiana’s human services agency plans to introduce more face-to-face contact with caseworkers and make other improvements in January in 10 southwestern counties. The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration released details Sunday of what it is calling a ‘hybrid plan’ that will keep the best aspects of the automated system but add more personal contact between caseworkers and clients. The agency said the changes will improve state oversight of the private portions of the system, keep better tabs on documents submitted by clients and move more workers from call centers to county welfare offices…”
• Hybrid welfare rollout nearing, By Niki Kelly, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “Ten counties in southern Indiana will serve as a pilot for a new hybrid welfare delivery system that will start sometime in January, the Family and Social Services Administration announced Sunday. But Allen County and other areas affected by the failed modernization effort will have to wait for improvements…”

• City judge rules against state in food stamp processing lawsuit, By Brent Jones, December 11, 2009, Baltimore Sun: “A Baltimore Circuit Court judge ruled Thursday that the state has failed to deliver food stamps and medical benefits in a timely manner to thousands of Marylanders, and he ordered a corrective action plan to be filed by late January. Judge Barry Williams ruled that the Department of Human Resources needs to fully comply by the end of 2010 with a law that requires that emergency and medical benefits be received by applicants within 30 days. The case was brought by a Baltimore County woman who sued the state after she applied for food stamps in February but did not receive the services until April, more than 60 days after the request…”
• No food stamps blamed on Md., By Henri E. Cauvin, December 11, 2009, Washington Post: “A Maryland judge ruled Thursday that the state government is failing to provide food stamps and other public benefits as promptly as federal and state law requires. Thousands of families have been affected by the delays over the last few years, and in announcing his decision, Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams said the Maryland Department of Human Resources had engaged in a pattern and practice of violating the law. The judge gave the department 45 days to provide a plan to correct the problems and a year to bring the agency into full compliance with the laws governing food stamps, temporary cash assistance and medical aid…”

Computer issues cause Medicaid payment lags, By Patricia Anstett, November 5, 2009, Detroit Free Press: “Dozens of Michigan nursing homes, hospices, dental offices and hospitals have encountered problems with two new state Medicaid computer programs, including payment errors, lengthy reimbursement lags and delays enrolling patients in the Medicaid program. The problems coincide with large increases in people applying for Medicaid, a program that serves 1.8 million low-income Michigan children and adults…”

• Adjusted state unemployment rate hits 17.2%, By Howard Fischer, October 27, 2009, East Valley Tribune: “Arizonans have been told for months now that the state jobless rate is hovering in the low 9 percent range. But it turns out that’s pretty much only half the story - literally. New federal figures show Arizona’s real unemployment situation is already in double digits - 17.2 percent - when also accounting for people who are “underemployed” because they can’t find full-time work and discouraged Arizonans who have given up their job search…”
• State snafu stiffs unemployed, By Edward Mason, October 30, 2009, Boston Herald: “Thousands of desperate jobless Bay Staters - at the end of their ropes and unemployment benefits - thought the state had tossed them a lifeline when new checks arrived in the mail, only to learn it was all a big mistake and now they have to give the money back. The state Division of Unemployment Assistance mistakenly sent checks totaling $3.4 million to 4,159 out-of-work residents who’d exhausted their benefits, thanks to a glitch in the office’s archaic computer system, the Herald has learned…”
• Poor Unemployment Insurance planning adds extra burden to Conn., South Dakota employers, By Olga Pierce, October 26, 2009, ProPublica: “Employers in Connecticut and South Dakota face hefty tax increases in the midst of a recession because their states’ unemployment insurance trust funds ran dry last week. The two states, like many others, have solvency taxes — a special tax increase that kicks in when their trust fund balance goes below a set amount…”
• Benefit checks are on the way, By Yvonne Wenger, October 29, 2009, Charleston Post and Courier: “It’s official: the state Legislature fixed an oversight Wednesday that will send tens of millions of dollars to unemployed workers. Gov. Mark Sanford will sign the bill today and residents could receive a check within a week. The Legislature returned in special session this week to change wording in a law that will allow federal stimulus funds to provide an additional five months of unemployment benefits to out-of-work residents…”

• Welfare ‘hybrid’ to emerge, By Angela Mapes Turner, October 18, 2009, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “More than $360 million into the state’s largest private contract, Indiana faces uncertainty about how it will rebuild from its failed welfare privatization attempt and what it has actually gained. The state’s Family and Social Services Administration also faces the task of replacing its dinosaur of a core computer system down the road - a cost that had not even been included in the IBM contract. Gov. Mitch Daniels announced Thursday he was firing IBM Corp. as administrator of the state’s food stamp, Medicaid and welfare benefits and that the state would assume IBM’s role at the helm of a ‘hybrid’ system…”
• Daniels, GOP could face welfare deal fallout, By Mike Smith (AP), Chicago Tribune: “Democrats to Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels: We told you so. The gloating was to be expected after Daniels announced Thursday that he was canceling a contract with IBM Corp. to automate applications for food stamps, Medicaid and other welfare benefits. The project introduced in the spring of 2007 had been fraught with complaints of lost documents, delays in approving benefits, lengthy call hold times and severed eligibility for Medicaid and food stamps. Federal officials had closely scrutinized the state’s performance, and the state had put IBM on notice that it needed to improve…”
• Welfare critics await new system, By Eric Bradner, October 18, 2009, Evansville Courier and Press: “A human touch could have eased the anguish of Omega Young, an Evansville woman who fought for six months with Indiana’s welfare agency to have her Medicaid benefits reinstated at the same time she was fighting a losing battle with cancer. No one took note in time to help Young, whose benefits were approved March 2, the day after she died. But her struggle was vindicated when Gov. Mitch Daniels decided last week to cancel the state’s 10-year, $1.34 billion contract with IBM Corp. that created the modernized system she tried so hard to navigate, said her sister, Christal Bell. ‘She needed all the help she could get,’ Bell said. ‘But there are other people who need help, too.’ Now, thanks in part to Young’s story, others who face hardships such as disease, poverty and disability might get the personal assistance they need from Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration under a newly-announced hybrid system…”
• Firms downplay local impact of canceled IBM contract, By Dave Stafford, October 18, 2009, Anderson Herald Bulletin: “Companies in Anderson and Daleville that expanded two years ago when IBM won a contract to privatize Indiana’s welfare system downplayed local effects after the state canceled the deal. An IBM call center in Daleville and an Affiliated Computer Services facility at the Flagship Enterprise Park had expanded as part of an IBM pledge to create 1,000 jobs in exchange for getting a $1.34 billion contract to handle welfare applications and provide other services for the Family and Social Services Administration…”

• The lesson to learn from failure of IBM contract, Editorial, October 21, 2009, Fort Wayne News-Sentinel: “Gov. Mitch Daniels’ cancellation of IBM’s $1.37 billion contract to deliver welfare services will undoubtedly win praise from Republicans (he realized a mistake and corrected it) and criticism from Democrats (there was evidence to end it a lot sooner). There is some truth in both those positions, but the governor should be given credit for the honesty of his announcement. Daniels said it wasn’t a lack of resources that made the experiment in privatization fail. Nor was it a lack of effort…”
• Much to learn from state’s FSSA mistake, Editorial, October 18, 2009, South Bend Tribune: “There have been many concerns voiced throughout Gov. Mitch Daniels’ experiment in privatizing the Family and Social Services Administration intake process. Undoubtedly there will be many more in the months to come. But now, as Indiana pulls the plug on its $1.34 billion, 10-year contract with IBM to deliver crucial welfare services, the top priority must be the transition back to a state-operated system…”
• Welcome move to fix privatization of welfare, Editorial, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “Last Thursday, after almost three years of missteps that interrupted vital services for some, Gov. Mitch Daniels admitted the welfare-privatization concept didn’t work and canceled the contract with IBM. The governor deserves credit for owning up to the failure. His persistence in getting problems fixed in the Bureau of Motor Vehicles suggests he will now redouble efforts to improve services provided through the Family and Social Services Administration. We wish him only success…”
• Back to the state for personal touch, Editorial, October 17, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “Large, troubling questions remain about the fate of a public assistance system that affects one in every six Hoosiers. How will the transition back to the state from a failed privatization effort be accomplished? Will IBM express its ire over losing a $1.34 billion contract in the form of legal action, or a threat of legal action serious enough to prompt an expensive buyout? How long will it take, and at what cost, to clean up a mess that has cost countless elderly, poor, sick and disabled people vital services and imperils countless more?…”
• Local lawmakers got FSSA job done, By Mizell Stewart III, October 18, 2009, Evansville Courier and Press: “Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels’ move to cancel the contract that privatized many of the intake functions of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration is a victory for benefit recipients and Southwestern Indiana lawmakers alike. The move was a disaster by nearly every account, notably because it turned much of the work of determining benefit eligibility over to call centers and Web sites. That’s fine for doing business in most instances, but it didn’t work at all for the poor, frail and elderly…”
• Cancelled contract, Editorial, October 18, 2009, Evansville Courier and Press: “Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels was right to cancel the state’s deal with IBM Corp., for privatizing the welfare application process. But let us not kid ourselves: the problems will not be corrected overnight. Daniels will be returning welfare application operations to the control of the Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration. However, remember that before privatization, applications were the responsibility of the state agency and it was a mess, fraught with errors and fraud. It was that way for years before Daniels came to office. It was that poor record of performance that led Daniels, an advocate of privatizing government services and assets, to seek a business-run welfare program. Unfortunately, that private system came with its own flaws…”

Indiana axes welfare contract with IBM, By Mary Beth Schneider and Bill Ruthhart, October 16, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “Calling it an endeavor that ‘just did not work,’ Gov. Mitch Daniels on Thursday canceled Indiana’s 10-year, $1.34 billion contract with IBM to deliver welfare services. In its place, Indiana will develop a hybrid structure that keeps some elements of the modernized welfare system, Daniels said, while restoring the best of the past system: personal contact. The decision marked a major setback for the governor, who has championed efforts to privatize some areas of state government, and a rare admission that — this time — his critics were right. As he announced his decision, Daniels thanked those who had raised concerns that the system resulted in too many errors and too many people waiting too long for help they desperately needed. ‘In many respects, they were right,’ he said. ‘The system wasn’t working, and it wasn’t getting better, despite best efforts.’ Critics say it was a lesson that could have been learned long before Thursday’s announcement. Texas, for instance, pulled the plug in 2007 on a similar welfare privatization effort after thousands of people lost benefits they deserved. Critics here had argued that Texas had tried to do too much too fast, and said a slower rollout in Indiana would ease in the new system. The state’s rollout, though, was never completed…”

• Feds nix welfare data use in hiring, By Ken Kusmer (AP), October 14, 2009, Chicago Tribune: “Indiana’s human services agency considered letting a private contractor use the state’s welfare database to screen potential employees until federal food stamp officials told them it was inappropriate and not allowed. Documents provided to The Associated Press under an open records request show that Affiliated Computer Services Inc. sought permission from the Family and Social Services Administration to use the state’s welfare data to screen job applicants for fraud or other welfare program violations. The U.S. Food and Nutrition Service, which oversees the food stamp program, objected when it learned from FSSA in July that the state agency might share the data…”
• Fixing the welfare fix, By Eric Bradner, October 13, 2009, Evansville Courier and Press: “Critics of Indiana’s $1.34 billion contract to modernize the state’s human services agency on Tuesday called for a new approach that puts a premium on face-to-face interaction between welfare applicants and caseworkers. Pressure is mounting on Gov. Mitch Daniels’ administration to either produce positive results or move toward altering or canceling the 10-year contract with a team led by Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM Corp. and Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services Inc. However, with the new system implemented in Indiana Family and Social Services Administration offices in 59 of Indiana’s 92 counties, changing paths would be a messy process. Those who have called for the contract to be canceled have left one major question unanswered: What happens next?…”
• State cancels IBM/FSSA contract, By Eric Bradner, October 13, 2009, Evansville Courier and Press: “Saying the idea looked good on paper but did not work in practice, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels announced this afternoon that the state has abandoned its attempts to modernize its welfare delivery system. Daniels said he informed Armonk, N,Y.-based IBM Corp., the lead vendor in the 10-year, $1.34 billion deal, that he is canceling the contract. ‘It was a concept that looked user-friendly and efficient on paper, but sometimes those things don’t work when you take them out on the road,’ Daniels said. However neither Daniels nor officials in Indiana’s FSSA were able to provide many details…”

Conditions placed on completing Indiana’s welfare rollout, By Ken Kusmer (AP), September 29, 2009, Louisville Courier-Journal: “A federal food stamp administrator has told Indiana’s human services chief that his staff must be consulted before the state rolls out its troubled welfare automation program to additional regions. Regional Administrator Ollice Holden of the U.S. Food and Nutrition Service also said in the letter that his staff has ongoing concerns about the food stamp program, now known formally as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program…”

• State’s social services suffering, panel learns, By Mary Beth Schneider, September 25, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “Too many errors and delays and too little face-to-face contact with clients are hampering Indiana’s privatized welfare delivery service, the state acknowledged Friday to lawmakers. Despite those persistent problems, Anne Murphy, secretary of the Family and Social Services Administration, told the bipartisan State Budget Committee that no decision has been made on whether to end the $1.34 billion, 10-year contract that Indiana has with an IBM-led group to manage food stamps, Medicaid and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program…”
• Indiana welfare problems linger, budget committee told, By Lesley Stedman Weidenbener, September 25, 2009, Louisville Courier-Journal: “Significant problems remain in Indiana’s welfare application system, and no decision has been made about whether to sever a controversial contract with the private firm handling the work, a key state official told lawmakers Friday. Some parts of the system have improved since Gov. Mitch Daniels ordered the private consortium - which includes IBM and Affiliated Computer Services - to fix problems or face losing a 10-year, $1.3 billion contract, said Anne Murphy, secretary of the state Family and Social Services Administration…”
• Political, geographical lines divide welfare solutions, By Eric Bradner, September 26, 2009, Evansville Courier and Press: “Gov. Mitch Daniels’ administration is working to improve its human services agency’s troubled attempt to modernize, and state lawmakers are grappling with how and where their pressure can be applied best. But geographic and political differences have made it impossible for all parties to agree on an approach that is suitable statewide. In some pockets, such as Evansville, frustration with the new system has reached a boiling point. Some lawmakers say the project is hopeless and the best choice is to cut losses and abandon it. In other places, such as Indianapolis, the changes have not been rolled out yet. In other areas, the new system is working relatively well, according to Indiana Family and Social Services Administration officials…”

Food stamp system improved with stimulus funds, By Deborah Yetter, August 18, 2009, Louisville Courier-Journal: “Kentucky will use $2.9 million in federal stimulus money to try to improve service to people applying for food stamps, state officials said. By this fall, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services plans to convert paper files stored in local offices to electronic files state workers will use to complete or renew applications for the federally funded food stamp program…”

• Auditors warn Utah Medicaid is likely wasting millions of taxpayer dollars, By Heather May, August 18, 2009, Salt Lake Tribune: ” Millions of tax dollars are likely being wasted in Utah’s Medicaid program on procedures — including a breast augmentation and nose jobs — that aren’t covered by the government insurance program, according to a scathing legislative audit released Tuesday. Millions more are lost because the Medicaid department isn’t adequately going after providers who submit fraudulent bills. And while there are three sets of internal auditors charged with overseeing the department and its $1.7 billion budget, none are independent enough to do their jobs appropriately, the report says…”
• Audit says Utah losing millions to Medicaid fraud, waste, By Lana Groves, August 18, 2009, Deseret News: “Legislators are appalled over the results of an audit reporting the state Medicaid system is losing millions because of an outdated system. The state audit released Tuesday found that the Utah Department of Health’s Bureau of Program Integrity, which checks for fraud, waste and abuse within the state Medicaid program, is mismanaged and failed on several occasions to follow policy regarding cost-saving methods…”

Companies face heat on welfare modernization, By Eric Bradner, August 12, 2009, Evansville Courier and Press: “Southwestern Indiana lawmakers, hospitals and social services agencies ramped up the pressure on the companies hired to modernize Indiana’s welfare agency during a closed-door meeting earlier this week. Family and Social Services Administration Secretary Anne Murphy brought officials from IBM Corp. and Affiliated Computer Services Inc., the companies working on a 10-year contract that now tops $1.3 billion, to Tuesday’s meeting so they could hear from those who are affected by the problems plaguing the new system…”

Glitches mar Indiana’s effort to outsource social services, By William M. Bulkeley, August 12, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “Processing of welfare, food-stamp and Medicaid claims in Indiana was plagued with difficulties when the state outsourced the system to International Business Machines Corp. and Affiliated Computer Services Inc. two years ago. The problem hasn’t been resolved since then. ‘There’s a myriad of problems,’ said Anne Murphy, secretary of the state’s Family and Social Services Administration. ‘Error rates are too high. We’re not processing claims within federal guidelines.’ Naomi Mundy, a 59-year-old homemaker, said it took 15 months after she developed melanoma to get Indiana to pay her health-care benefits under Medicaid because of outsourcing snafus…”

• Glitch leaves 7K NV food stamp recipients without, By Sandra Chereb (AP), August 5, 2009, San Francisco Chronicle: “State welfare officials were scrambling Wednesday to contact about 7,000 food assistance recipients who didn’t receive a 45-day notice before their benefits expired July 31. A June 16 computer glitch is blamed, and officials were trying to contact participants to re-evaluate their continued eligibility under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program…”
• Computer error caused rent woes for public housing tenants, By Manny Fernandez, August 5, 2009, New York Times: “The city’s public housing agency overcharged hundreds of welfare families because of a rent calculation error and took many of them to court, threatening them with eviction for failing to pay the higher amount. The computer problem at the agency, the New York City Housing Authority, is in the process of being corrected and none of the tenants were evicted, officials said. But the error, which began last September and continued until May, had serious legal, financial and personal consequences for many low-income families…”

• State welfare contract ballooning, By Ken Kusmer (AP), August 4, 2009, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “Indiana will spend nearly $180 million more than it initially planned to privatize and automate many of its welfare functions just two years into a closely watched 10-year deal that is one of the most lucrative contracts in state history. The cost of the $1.16 billion contract Gov. Mitch Daniels signed in late 2006 has risen 15 percent, to $1.34 billion, under changes made to the agreement with a group led by Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM Corp…”
• Welfare woes, Editorial, August 4, 2009, Evansville Courier and Press: “Call us naive, but we thought the cost of adjustments to Indiana’s privatized welfare application system would be on the backs of the contractors - not the taxpayers - given that the businesses had agreed in late 2006 to give the state a modern, automated operation for $1.16 billion. But now we learn that the privatized system is costing Indiana an additional $180 million, some of it to fix the basic program, which has come under harsh criticism from advocates for welfare clients…”

• Joy, skepticism greet IBM’s plan, By Angela Mapes Turner, July 24, 2009, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “State lawmakers and social service providers welcome Indiana’s extensive plan to correct its failing welfare system.  But they aren’t convinced it provides the right guidance for private welfare vendor IBM Corp. to resolve widespread problems…”
• IBM to add humanity to welfare, By Ken Kusmer (AP), July 24, 2009, Evansville Courier and Press: “IBM Corp.’s 362-page plan to fix problems with Indiana’s privately run welfare system calls for providing more face-to-face help and no longer “forcing clients to self-service channels” such as telephone call centers and online applications.  The plan, obtained by The Associated Press, also describes myriad mechanical and human errors such as an automatic call distributor that “inappropriately fails” about twice a month, losing all telephone calls in progress and infighting within IBM’s coalition of partners…”

Privatizing welfare means more fall through cracks, critics say, By Will Higgins, July 20, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “Omega Young lay in her hospital bed, her body wracked with disease. The cancer that started in her ovaries had spread to her kidneys, breast and liver. She’d lost her appetite to the chemotherapy; she weighed 98 pounds. Then came more bad news: After a botched round of telephone tag with welfare officials, the state of Indiana pulled the plug on her Medicaid benefits and food stamps…”

Schwarzenegger proposes private, centralized system for public assistance eligibility, By Michael Rothfield, July 16, 2009, Los Angeles Times: A proposal that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been pushing in closed-door budget talks would tie the state, with little oversight or review, into a multibillion-dollar computer system likely to be run by the private sector to enroll low-income Californians in welfare, food stamp and healthcare programs.  A draft of the plan obtained by The Times shows that Schwarzenegger would replace existing county-run processes, which use four different computer systems across the state, with a single one. Administration officials say the new Internet-based system would allow them to save money on overhead and spend more on recipients…”

• 13-week unemployment benefits extension held up by U.S. rules, tech glitch, Texas agency says, By Robert T. Garrett, July 15, 2009, Dallas Morning News: “As many as 82,000 unemployed Texans won’t receive an immediate 13-week extension of benefits as they expected because of federal rules and state computer problems, the Texas Workforce Commission said Tuesday…”
• In Texas, thousands face a lengthy gap in unemployment benefits, By Dave Montgomery, July 14, 2009, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “Up to 15,000 jobless Texans are expected to exhaust their unemployment benefits by the end of July and could be without benefits for more than a month and possibly longer as state officials struggle to implement a 13-week extension…”
• 15,000 Texans to lose checks, By Peggy Fikac, July 14, 2009, Houston Chronicle: “In a sign of lingering hardship, more than 15,000 Texans will lose their unemployment checks at the end of the month because they have exhausted their benefits after 59 weeks without a job…”

• Medicaid problems swell in new system, By Angela Mapes Turner, July 12, 2009, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “Indiana’s nearly 2-year-old experiment with a privatized welfare system appears to be failing. The backlog of pending Medicaid applications has ballooned in counties where welfare is handled by private contractors. From May 2008 - after the most recent wave of counties joined the new system - to December 2008, pending cases increased 86 percent. In counties working under the old system, the backlog increased only 16 percent, according to a Journal Gazette analysis of state data…”
• No Plan B for welfare contractors, By Ken Kusmer (AP), July 12, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “Indiana welfare officials considering canceling the state’s privately run welfare system have no backup plan in place, and critics say it will be hard to undo the privatization of 1,500 state case workers more than two years ago…”
• State prods contractor into action, By Eric Bradner, Evansville Courier and Press: “Gov. Mitch Daniels’ administration is using a carrot-and-stick strategy to try to pressure contractors hired to modernize the state’s welfare agency into producing better results…”
• The welfare privatization debacle, Editorial, July 12, 2009, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “Gov. Mitch Daniels likes to say that he inherited ‘the worst welfare system in the nation.’ But two extensive reviews of data by The Journal Gazette suggest it has grown worse under his watch. The latest shows staggering increases in Medicaid application backlogs in the counties where the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration turned eligibility processing over to IBM Corp…”

Government to require verification of workers, By Julia Preston, July 8, 2009, New York Times: “The Obama administration will require businesses that win federal contracts to use a government electronic database system to verify that their employees have legal immigration status to work in the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Wednesday.  After a six-month review, Homeland Security officials decided to go ahead with a worker-verification plan based on the electronic system, called E-Verify. The system, which the Bush administration sought to put into effect in its final months, is meant to prevent federal contractors from hiring illegal immigrants…”

• $1B privatization deal at risk, By Will Higgins, July 8, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “Nearly two years into the privatization of Indiana’s welfare system, state officials are considering scrapping it amid widespread concerns that include the mishandling of nearly one in five food-stamp cases.  State welfare officials acknowledge that in about three-quarters of those cases, eligible Hoosiers are being denied aid they should be receiving…”
• AP Exclusive: IBM on notice over Ind. welfare deal, By Ken Kusmer (AP), July 7, 2009, Idaho Statesman: “Indiana’s privately run welfare project has so many problems that the state could start taking steps to cancel its $1.16 billion contract with IBM as early as this fall, a state official said Tuesday.  Secretary Anne Murphy of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration said she asked lead vendor IBM Corp. to submit a ‘corrective action plan’ as part of a process that could result in canceling the 10-year deal if promised improvements don’t occur by the end of September…”