Georgia’s stubborn food stamp problems linger

Georgia’s overhaul of the troubled call-in system for food stamp and Medicaid problems has brought modest improvements to the beleaguered program, but tens of thousands of people still hang up each week before they can get help.

Data released by the state Division of Family and Children Services showed a drop in the percentage of calls abandoned each week, but the figures also show that nearly half of callers still give up before receiving benefits.

And the pace of calls is only likely to increase if the agency follows through on plans to limit online applications.

More is at stake than the patience of the callers. Gov. Nathan Deal’s administration scrapped the social service agency’s centralized call-in system in February after it struggled so badly that federal officials threatened to cut millions of dollars in funding.

The new system shifts many cases to caseworkers at county DFCS offices. That change, which took effect in early August, helped the percentage of abandoned calls drop from 62 percent in late July to about 44 percent in early September.

But despite the overhaul, some of the same frustrating problems that plagued the system still linger.

Four-hour waits on the phone

Callers still wait on hold for as long as four hours before getting their questions answered. An average of more than 36,000 people are unable to get through on the phone each week since the change. And some recipients complain that county workers can be just as hard to track down as state employees.

Consider the situation of Lisa Allrid, a disabled recipient of food stamps and Medicaid benefits who requires help to pay her bills and manage her finances. Her friend Jennifer DeLaune tried three different times to set up a time for a Douglas County DFCS agent to call Allrid. Each time, she gave up as wait times stretched more than an hour.

DeLaune eventually found a way to file an online complaint, and an agent renewed Allrid’s benefits later that afternoon, calling it a “special case.” Still, DeLaune said, she was rattled by the experience.

“Although I am relieved that Lisa’s issue is resolved,” DeLaune said, “I am still infuriated about what people who are in real need of these services must go through.”

Expert: more resources, staffing needed

One expert who has reviewed the data said he worries that the system will continue to struggle until it gets an infusion of more resources and staff to handle the glut of calls.

“The fundamental problem with DFCS is and long has been that it is tremendously understaffed,” said David Super, a Georgetown University professor who has studied Georgia’s food stamp system for more than a decade. “Shifting that problem to the county level will not help. Only more staffing will.”

Agency spokeswoman Susan Boatwright said DFCS will be asking lawmakers for more resources during next year’s legislative session. She said the agency is so far pleased with the changes and that more tweaks will reduce the overall number of calls to the call center and cut into the amount of abandoned calls.

Deal said the changes will take time to work.

“When you ramp up and make the public more aware, you’re going to have more people requesting assistance. We have ramped up trying to respond to that,” he said. “I am generally and favorably impressed with the results, but we will continue to monitor that. We’ve come a long way in a relatively short period of time.”

Millions of dollars at stake

A smoother process could help save millions of dollars. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last year that Georgia wasted about $138 million in 2013 in overpayments to people who receive food stamps. The state also saved millions in underpayments, but documents show the overpayments involve much more money.

Right now, phone calls are the primary means for people receiving Medicaid, food stamps and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families to reach the state.

The new model, known as “One Caseworker, One Family,” connects an applicant with a case manager and a direct number to call to conduct the interview and answer any follow-up questions.

The centralized state-run call-in center, long a target of complaints from aid recipients stuck on hold for hours, is primarily being used by aid recipients to report changes in their cases, such as a rent increase or wage cut.

Caseworkers are also providing customers with their direct phone numbers, and in late August, the program began automated robo-calls that remind aid recipients of their appointment times.

Online applications could be de-emphasized

In the meantime, the number of incoming phone calls and paper applications seem likely to grow.

A DFCS official sent workers a memo on Sept. 11 saying there’s a “very strong possibility” that it will scale back an online application process from the website to relieve overwhelmed caseworkers — and help the state meet its timeliness goals.

The official, Deputy Director Jon Anderson, wrote that workers “walk into their jobs every day with thousands of pending applications that were ‘slid under the door’ overnight.”

Super, the Georgetown professor, worries that the change will lead to even more gridlock.

“If DFCS largely cuts off Web applications, it will have many more paper applications,” he said. “And I doubt it will be able to keep up.”