Hundreds of thousands of Texas families have been waiting months for the state to process their Medicaid applications. The median processing time is 79 days despite a federal requirement to do so in 45 days. We’ve heard from families who say they could not access critical care during that time, such as not being able to afford to reset their child’s broken nose. Health care providers have reported patients struggling to get lifesaving heart surgeries.

The delays worsened after the federal government lifted pandemic-era protections last year. Our reporting shows that Texas rushed through the process, removing more than 900,000 children not because they were ineligible, but for procedural reasons like their families failing to fill out a form.

The backlog for food benefits is not much better. The state most recently reported having nearly 97,000 applications to process for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP — often referred to as food stamps — and said that the median time it took was 33 days.

We are committed to reporting on long-standing issues with Texas’ social safety net and their root causes. We need help from those who know the delays firsthand and the harm they may cause: the families who rely on and are currently waiting for benefits. We want to show any failures to the people who are responsible for overseeing these systems — lawmakers, advocates, even the federal government — and explain where the state may be falling short of its obligations.

Please fill out the form below if:

• You’ve been waiting more than a month to hear about your Medicaid or SNAP application and have faced medical or financial consequences.
• You’ve worked with the state and can help us understand the reasons behind the persistent backlog, including IT glitches, staffing issues and funding shortages related to Medicaid or SNAP.
• You help people apply for benefits, or you are a health care worker or other expert with insight on this issue.

Filling out the form is the best way to get in touch, but we understand that life gets busy and sharing details of your situation may be easier to do with a reporter by phone. Please indicate on the form below if that is what you’d prefer.

You can also call 602-848-9609 and leave us a voice message with your name, phone number and the best time to get in touch. We may call and ask you these same questions. The call should take about 10 minutes.

We appreciate you sharing your story, and we take your privacy seriously. We are gathering these stories for the purposes of our reporting and will contact you if we wish to publish any part.

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