Enrollment falls in benefit programs

State officials, advocates disagree about the cause

SANTA FE — After steadily increasing for years, New Mexico enrollment in Medicaid and food assistance — safety net programs that are run by the state and funded largely by federal dollars — has dropped significantly in recent months.

But state officials and advocates for low-income New Mexicans disagree about whether the dip is good news for the state, which has long had one of the nation’s highest child poverty rates.

Human Services Secretary Brent Earnest, whose agency administers Medicaid, food assistance and other programs, said the enrollment trends could be the result of both an improving state economy and the lifting of a federal court order that had affected how the agency handled benefit applications.

“As a state, ultimately we want individuals

to be on their own path to success,” Earnest said in a recent interview. “And when people need these programs, then they’re there to help.”

But the nonprofit New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty described the enrollment drop as troubling, claiming the state agency has an error-riddled track record when it comes to ensuring eligible families receive benefits.

The group, which has spearheaded a long-running legal battle over access to safety net programs, cited a recent Human Services Department report that indicated more than 42 percent of denied requests for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, formerly known as food stamps, were improperly handled, either because deadlines were not met or incomplete reasons for denial were provided.

That figure is based on a random sample of applications. Overall, the agency approves nearly 82 percent of food assistance applications, according to department reports.

“Unfortunately, HSD’s faulty application process prevents eligible families from getting the food and medical assistance they need,” said Sovereign Hager, a managing attorney with the Center on Law and Poverty. “The drops in enrollment should alarm everyone.” The numbers are striking. As of February, there were 855,032 New Mexico eligible adults and children enrolled in Medicaid, down from 904,258 recipients as of February 2017, according to HSD data. That represents a 5.4 percent decrease.

New Mexico’s Medicaid caseload had been going up rapidly until last year, with the increase due in part to Gov. Susana Martinez’s decision in 2013 to accept federal funding to expand the state’s Medicaid rolls to additional low-income residents.

The decline in food assistance recipients was even steeper — down 11.8 percent from the previous year — as it went from 520,387 adults and children to 459,000.

Some of that could be due to the state economy. While New Mexico has lagged behind neighboring states in recent years in terms of job growth, there have been positive recent signs, including a reduction in the state’s unemployment rate.

“When things start to pick up, the pressure on these caseloads is relieved,” Earnest said in referring to the economy.

But the 30-year old lawsuit over access to food and medical benefits might be an even bigger factor.

A 2014 ruling by a federal judge in the lawsuit found New Mexico families were being improperly denied food and medical assistance. As a result, the court ordered the Human Services Department to stop automatically denying and closing applications for Medicaid and food stamp benefits.

That order was finally lifted last year, allowing the agency to resume normal processing. As a result, a backlog of benefit applications has been eliminated, Earnest and other agency officials say.

He also said the agency has bolstered staffing levels in state field offices, invested more money in a call center and made changes involving management positions.

“We’re always looking for the best way to operate these programs, and that includes who’s administering them,” Earnest told the Journal, while adding he believes past issues with the handling of benefit applications have been largely resolved.

Critics persist

Critics are not convinced the administrative errors in the state’s handling of applications are all fixed.

They also say it costs the state money to process applications for families that have their benefits wrongly cut off or denied.

“It’s high time HSD remove barriers and fix its application and renewal process,” Hager said. “This will reduce administrative costs while ensuring families have access to food and medical care.”

The financial stakes are high, as New Mexico Medicaid spending for the budget year starting July 1 is pegged at $933.6 million — or nearly 15 percent of state spending. The state also gets billions of dollars in federal funds annually.

Nationally, New Mexico had the second-highest Medicaid enrollment rate in 2015 — in front of only West Virginia — based on Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation figures.

Meanwhile, there could be more hurdles to receiving safety net benefits on the horizon.

The Human Services Department sought in 2014 to reimpose federal work requirements — signed into law in 1996 by thenPresident Bill Clinton — for certain adult food stamp recipients, but those efforts were ultimately stymied in the courts after being challenged by opponents. The work requirements had been suspended due to an economic downturn.

However, Earnest said he expects them to be put back in place around the beginning of next year, when a federal waiver ends.