Florida Medicaid, SNAP overhaul may hurt recipients, advocates warn
Florida says it’s about to become easier to apply for and renew government assistance. Advocates say coming changes may do the opposite.
The Florida Department of Children and Families on Tuesday is relaunching the website where people apply for and renew government assistance such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — also known as food stamps — and Medicaid.
In order to enter the revamped MyACCESS portal, users need to create a new account, and then use a phone or email to confirm their identity, a process known as two-factor authentication, each time they log in. That will be the case for the over 5 million Floridians now on Medicaid, about one out of every four people in the state. In 2021, over 1 million also used cash public assistance or food stamps, according to state data.
Though the updates will address some long-standing criticisms of the state’s system, critics say this change is abrupt, nothing that many on government assistance do not have easy access to the internet. They also say that Florida is not equipped to help people troubleshoot this process.
But the main concern lies around timing: This shift is occurring during a nationwide Medicaid unwinding, a process plagued by confusion, miscommunication, and high call center wait times.
“Right now, when lots of families, particularly children, are already losing coverage inappropriately in Florida, this is reckless,” said Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.
The use of the MyACCESS website is not required to access benefits; patrons can enroll and get other information by phone. The majority of people have an online account, however.
Over 800,000 people have been removed from Florida Medicaid following the end of a COVID-era policy in April that banned states from dropping people from the program. Of those removed, over half were disenrolled because of procedural reasons, such as failing to update their contact or income information in the state’s current MyACCESS system.
An ongoing class-action lawsuit in Florida District Court accuses the state of failing to give adequate notification to people losing coverage, and failing to give them a shot at appealing. A hearing is set for Tuesday, the same day this new portal goes into effect.
Among other things, DCF states on its website that Tuesday’s overhaul will make it easier to upload documents and access the site on mobile platforms, and provide a more efficient and secure system. Once people create a new account, the information from their old account should transfer.
The transition is easier said than done for many people on Medicaid, some of whom lack regular access to internet, said Florida Policy Institute senior policy analyst and attorney Cindy Huddleston.
“Setting up a new account is a challenge for people who are not as technologically savvy, or people who are relying on community partners, or friends or family members to help them with the process,” she said.
She said she is concerned about both Florida’s capacity and the capacity of third-party community partners to help people navigate through this process.
Though there have been rumblings about a system overhaul for over a year, DCF publicly announced this change Nov. 13, and many third-party community partners and nonprofit organizations didn’t receive notification until the rest of the world did, Huddleston said.
Third parties have supplemented Florida’s resources during the Medicaid unwinding, during which Florida’s call centers have reached some of the longest call wait times and highest drop rates in the nation.
In August, Anne Marie Costello, deputy director for the Center for Medicaid & CHIP Services, sent a letter to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration expressing concerns that Florida’s 32-minute average call center wait time and 38% call-abandonment rate was “impeding equitable access to assistance and the ability for people to apply for or renew Medicaid and CHIP coverage by phone.”
DCF did not respond to a request for comment from the Orlando Sentinel asking about the timing, how people in the middle of the unwinding process will be impacted, why the switch to two-factor authentication occurred and whether this new system was piloted before its launch.
DCF posted a series of videos to its YouTube channel, @MyFLFamilies on Thursday providing instructions on how to make an account, link an account and navigate the new system.
Ccatherman@orlandosentinel.com; @CECatherman Twitter
