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In May, Missouri residents who applied for food assistance over the phone had to wait an average of 56 minutes to reach the required interview process, and a federal judge deemed the delay “unacceptably long.” rice field.
But data obtained by The Independent this week showed that wait times continued to increase each month over the summer.
People who called the state hotline for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) waited an average of over an hour and a half in August before being connected to an agent.
In both June and July, wait times exceeded an hour.
In 2014, the Department of Social Services reprimanded the then-contractor of the SNAP call center for exceeding six minutes of waiting time.
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Applicants must complete an interview to receive SNAP benefits and must be interviewed for recertification every 12-24 months, although long wait times can make passage difficult. there is.
The situation sparked a federal lawsuit alleging that Missouri falsely denied food aid to thousands of low-income residents in February, violating the federal SNAP Act.
M. Douglas Harpool, the judge overseeing the federal lawsuit, called the 56-minute waiting time at the time “still unacceptably long and especially burdensome for economically struggling Missourians who need SNAP benefits.” is big,” he said.
Between February and May, the state noted a “significant reduction” in SNAP wait times. The latest data reveal that this trend did not last long, even as another social safety net program, Medicaid, became more timely.
The state attributed the long wait times for SNAPs over the summer to an influx of applicants and a weakening economy. Officials also point to understaffing and high turnover within the Missouri Department of Social Services, which oversees the program.
If the call volume is too high, the SNAP applicant will not be able to enter the queue and the call will automatically end.
‘I don’t know if we’re doing enough’
No recent latency data was available from DSS. Waiting times for June, July and August were turned over to the Independent on Monday in response to public records requests filed with DSS in September.
In response to The Independent’s request for records, the state said waiting times would be shorter if applicants answered the state’s call from an automated system.
Based on the data provided, applicants typically receive an interview call from DSS through an autodialer within a few days of submitting their application.
However, according to federal lawsuits, applicants often miss these calls because they don’t know when they will call, at which point they must go to the office in person or use a call center.
DSS also highlighted that some callers were mistakenly queued in the general questions section of the call center instead of in a specific SNAP queue. This can provide an incomplete picture of the data. Or quantify how common this is.
On the DSS Facebook page where benefits recipients often ask questions, the following comment was made last month: I have a disabled son and he is trying to schedule a SNAP interview for 2 weeks but the call volume is too high to answer the phone. ”
Another petition for help last month read: [there are] There are 319 people ahead of me on the phone. ”
Wait times continue to be an issue with SNAP, so the state has successfully reduced the time it takes to process Medicaid applications.
Processing times for evaluating Medicaid applications became so long (averaging 115 days in June) that the federal government intervened to bring Missouri into compliance with the program’s regulations. In September, the state announced it had overcome a backlog of Medicaid applications, thanks to staff jobs and policy flexibility. The average processing time for the month was within federal government limits for the first time in almost a year.
Kim Evans, head of DSS’s family support division, previously explained that staff who process Medicaid applications are also trained to process SNAP applications, and DSS will move staff as needed. .
DSS spokesperson Caitlin Whaley said the number of Family Assistance Division staff “shifted daily” is driven by “the volume of calls and the business need to maintain the timeliness of Medicaid applications.” Said it depends.
Whaley declined to answer questions about whether the focus on the Medicaid application, which began in July, may have impacted SNAP’s latency.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees SNAP in the state, said there are no federal regulations specific to call center wait times.
“[Food and Nutrition Services] We will continue to work with state leaders to consider possible solutions and will continue to monitor our internal state progress regarding call latency,” said a USDA spokesperson.
State Senator Jill Sup, a St. Louis County Democrat who has previously put pressure on the department about SNAP wait times, said in an interview that DSS staffing levels may be impacting social safety net services. He said he was still concerned. And, she said, it has been successful “in some areas.”
“I’m not sure we’re doing enough to be able to recruit and retain new employees,” she said.
DSS says it will launch an “enhanced customer portal” with scheduling capabilities, which it hopes will ease the burden on call centers. But it won’t be available until 2023, he said, Whaley.
The state is already “working to implement more resources for citizens, including a live chat feature, a website outlining verification documents, and a new secure document upload portal,” Whaley said.
Asked whether the enhanced customer portal will allow applicants to access in-person options, Whaley said:
Missouri Independent is part of the States Newsroom, a network of news stations supported by a coalition of 501c(3) public charity grants and donors.
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