Q&A
Council member asks about specific examples of benefit denials in similar portals
3:10:35
·
79 sec
Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez asks Kevin De Liban for specific examples of benefits being denied using similar portals to MyCity. Kevin provides detailed examples from various states, including Rhode Island, Michigan, Florida, and Arkansas.
- Rhode Island experienced massive SNAP and Medicaid failures affecting 130,000 people
- Michigan, Florida, and Arkansas have ongoing issues with unemployment benefit delays
- Affected benefits typically include Medicaid, SNAP, unemployment, and sometimes TANF
Jennifer Gutiérrez
3:10:35
Thank you, Kevin.
3:10:36
Do you have specific examples of benefits being denied?
3:10:40
Or what kind of benefits that were denied using a similar portal?
3:10:44
Yes.
3:10:44
He has to be unmuted.
Kevin De Liban
3:10:46
Okay.
3:10:46
Thank you.
3:10:47
Yeah.
3:10:48
So in Rhode Island in I think it was 2016 to 2018.
3:10:53
Massive SNAP and Medicaid failures.
3:10:56
So I think at some point, a 130,000 people on SNAP benefits lost their benefits, and then there was a backlog of 15 or 30,000 applications that took months and months to receive.
3:11:07
You have in cases right now with, like, unemployment, there are still cases in Michigan of people who are waiting 4 years for pandemic or unemployment benefits that they were eligible for originally.
3:11:21
Same situation in Florida and even to a lesser extent, I think in Arkansas.
3:11:26
So there's a lot of examples from all over the country about loss benefits, and those mean Medicaid SNAP.
3:11:33
And unemployment principally when it comes to state benefits.
3:11:36
Few people outside of many places are on tanf anymore or temporary assistance for needed families.
3:11:41
So that's might be less impacted, but that's another benefit.
3:11:43
It's usually rolled into these sort of integrated so called integrated eligibility in enrollment systems.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
3:11:50
Thank you.
3:11:50
Thank you, Kevin.
3:11:51
Thank you for your testimony.
Kevin De Liban
3:11:53
Thanks.
3:11:53
Thank you.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
3:11:54
Next witness is Clayton Banks, followed by Sarah Laura of St.
