New Mexico still failing its poorest, court told

Agency accused of ‘little progress’ on food stamps, Medicaid

SANTA FE — The New Mexico state agency that administers safety-net programs for nearly half of the state’s residents is under fire again, as plaintiffs in a long-running civil lawsuit say the Human Services Department has made “shockingly little progress” in complying with court orders aimed at improving the administration of federally funded food aid and health care programs.

However, the agency’s Cabinet secretary disputed that assertion during a Thursday court hearing in Las Cruces, saying the department has made improvements in recent months to more quickly process food stamp and Medicaid benefit applications.

“It’s sad to see groups try and play politics with our state’s most vulnerable,” Human Services Department spokesman Joseph Cueto said after the hearing. “The department will continue to improve because we’re committed to providing New Mexicans with only the best services.”

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Gonzales made no immediate ruling on the plaintiffs’ request to levy a $100-a-day fine on Human Services Secretary Brent Earnest, but said he planned to visit HSD field offices in the coming weeks to observe their operations.

He also urged both sides to adopt a less combative tone, according to an attorney in the case.

The dispute marks the latest chapter in a legal saga that began in 1988 and flared up last year, when a judge appointed a special master to oversee the agency’s compliance efforts and

found Earnest in contempt for failing to comply with court orders.

In a memo filed earlier this week, plaintiffs’ attorneys accused the Human Services Department of dragging its feet on a court decree aimed at eliminating a backlog of welfare applications and failing to turn over required information.

In addition, the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty and other plaintiffs said the agency’s processing of expedited food stamp benefit applications has worsened in recent months — with 10.4 percent of such cases not being handled in a timely manner in May, compared with 6.9 percent in April.

“Eligible New Mexicans are without food and medical assistance because defendant has a backlog of tens of thousands of unprocessed cases, the vast majority of clients cannot get through by phone and systemic changes required by multiple court orders have not been enacted,” the memo says.

However, Earnest testified Thursday that the agency has improved in some key areas in recent months, such as decreasing its average response time in approving Medicaid benefit applications from nine days to seven days.

New Mexico has one of the nation’s highest poverty rates, and there were more than 455,000 New Mexicans receiving food assistance benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, as of May, according to the Human Services Department.

In addition, there were 902,860 New Mexicans — both children and adults — receiving benefits under Medicaid, a joint federal-state health care program, as of May, according to agency data. That figure represents nearly half the state’s population.