by Brian Rosenthal
When the Family and Social Services Administration decided last October to allow people to apply for welfare benefits over the phone and on the computer, it figured the system would make it more convenient for the applicants.
But 57-year-old Thomas Dechon didn’t see it that way.
“I just thought it’d be easier,” said Dechon, who recently visited the tiny new Cass County Division of Family Resources office inside the Logan Square building trying to get a new food stamps card after losing his old one. It was his second trip with the same goal, but he was still card-less as he stood outside the downtown building waiting for a bus.
“My address wasn’t on the right page on the computer or something,” said the Logansport resident. “I guess I have to come back tomorrow.”
Dechon’s trouble is not unusual. Residents across the state have complained about the new system.
“It’s not working well,” said Glenn Cardwell, the former Vigo County welfare director, who opposes the changes. “It’s just not fair to the clients.”
Cardwell has traveled the state, presenting numbers showing that the new system has led to an increase in the number of eligible applicants being denied benefits.
The welfare agency recognizes the problems and is working to correct them, said FSSA Director of Media Relations Lauren Auld, who stressed the system has been mostly very successful.
“When you roll out any system, there are challenges that need to be addressed,” Auld said in a phone interview on Thursday. “We’re getting to the root of the problem and solving it. We’re concentrated on getting those we are eligible for benefits the assistance they need.”
Last October, a team of vendors led by IBM Corp. and Affiliated Computer Services Inc. signed a 10-year, $1.16 billion contract with FSSA to run Medicaid, food stamps, cash assistance and a new health insurance initiative called the Healthy Indiana Plan.
In the private system, applicants were for the first time given the option to apply for benefits by calling telephone call centers or visiting a Web site, Auld said. The system also added oversight to prevent fraud. The traditional county welfare offices were left open, although they were staffed with slightly fewer case workers, she added.
The changes were originally introduced in 12 counties, including Cass, and were expanded to 47 other counties by May. The 33 other Indiana counties were scheduled to switch to the new system in the near future.
But complaints about the system soon started pouring in.
Among the reports were long telephone wait times, complicated online applications and little help from the reduced county offices.
The 400-person call center received 73,000 calls last week, or about 37 calls per employee per day, according to numbers provided by Auld. In FSSA statistics released in July, 11.5 percent of callers hung up without completing their calls. Some were on hold for more than 10 minutes.
While Auld said residents can still go to the county offices and get the same type of help they received in the past, Cardwell countered that applicants are often “strongly encouraged” to use the telephone or computer.
The changes have had a negative impact on the number of Hoosiers receiving benefits, presumably because the difficulty of applying has turned some eligible applicants away.
From August 2007 to August 2008, the number of households receiving food stamps ticked up 4.6 percent in the 49 “modernized counties,” while leaping 11.7 percent in the counties not yet affected by the changes, according to numbers provided by Auld. In Cass County, benefited households actually decreased by 4.6 percent.
For Dechon, the biggest disadvantage to the changes is replacing face-to-face help from case workers with a help over the telephone.
“When you’re talking to someone in Marion, Indiana, he don’t care,” Dechon said. “He’s not looking you in the eye.”
Not everybody is complaining about the new system.
FSSA employees think the changes have been very successful. Meanwhile, three other residents interviewed separately outside the office this week said they didn’t think the new system was any harder, and one resident said he didn’t realize a change had been made.
Still, the state office is taking care to respond to the complaints. In the past month, it has made a new commitment to providing more help in the county offices and has temporary suspended the plan to expand the changes to the rest of the state
The latest numbers show the agency’s changes have been helpful.
From July to August, the number of FSSA food stamps increased by 1.88 percent in the 49 “modernized” counties and rose by just 1.43 percent in the counties unaffected by the changes, according to number provided by Auld. In Cass County, the numbers spiked by 3.18 percent — 1,383 households to 1,427.
Opponents of the new system said they’re still skeptical.
“I think there’s been some response because of a whole lot of criticism,” Cardwell said. “I worry that it’s only temporary.”
The agency will wait to continue expansion until it is confident the system is working, said Auld, who stressed she wants to hear from residents who have complaints.
“We are constantly improving and continue to listen to our clients for feedback,” she said. “We’ll move forward when we feel comfortable with our performance.”
Brian Rosenthal can be reached at (574) 732-5148, or via e-mail at Brian.Rosenthal@pharostribune.com
