Federal agency warning prompts new UHIP concerns among lawmakers

August 31, 2017 9:10 pm

House Oversight Chair Patricia Serpa is fed up, Displeased to put it mildly with where the state’s new benefits’ system stands as we approach the one year anniversary of the UHIP launch.

"This is just a nightmare. Every month it is something new,” said Serpa. “We’re all suffering UHIP fatigue, the public is, the media is, it’s like when are we going to move on."

The newest problem is a warning from the USDA saying that the state may not be able to recoup money that’s been overpaid in food stamp benefits.

The newly appointed DHS Director doesn’t have a straight answer about what will become of that warning.

"I think it’s too soon to know and I don’t want to speculate at what the risk is. But, I think we have been transparent about the fact that we’ve had timeliness and accuracy and benefit determination issues due to defects in the system and operational challenges,” said Director Courtney Hawkins.

Hawkins was not able to pin-point an amount that may or may not be re-couped.

State Rep. Anastasia Williams wants Deloitte, the vendor responsible for the benefits system… put on notice.

"I don’t care if it’s just kibbles or bits or if it’s a dollar fifty. If it needs to be placed on them they better come out of their pocketbooks. It needs to be told that they are responsible for this debacle,” said Williams.

Since the September 2016 launch of UHIP there has been a barrage of problems including massive backlogs and long wait times.

As we approach the one year mark, Director Hawkins points to the progress made.

"I certainly share a lot of the concerns that were raised today but I think it’s really important to focus on the fact that there is progress being made,” said Hawkins.