Post by Logan on May 5, 2016 2:58:08 GMT -6
State workers testify agency fudged numbers to deny food aid to poor
ALBUQUERQUE — Five state employees testified in federal court Thursday that New Mexico Human Services Department officials falsified income information on emergency applications for people seeking welfare benefits, resulting in wrongly denied food assistance to the poorest citizens in the state.
At a daylong hearing in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Carmen Garza that stretched into the evening, the state workers said they sometimes entered false asset information on emergency requests for food assistance as a part of a state policy created just as Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration came under federal scrutiny for its high rates of denying emergency requests for aid.
The New Mexico Human Services Department is required to fulfill emergency food requests within seven days of receiving an application for such assistance. Yet the employees, testifying under oath, said they sometimes altered the requests to reflect that those applying for the assistance had up to $400 in assets that did not exist, leading to the applications being denied or delayed.
At issue in the hearing was whether elements of the Human Services Department’s medical and food assistance programs should be put into a limited receivership in which a monitor oversees the state’s compliance with federal law.
Read more: www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/state-workers-testify-agency-fudged-numbers-to-deny-food-aid/article_1415527e-f923-5790-a6ef-79b527189a91.html
ALBUQUERQUE — Five state employees testified in federal court Thursday that New Mexico Human Services Department officials falsified income information on emergency applications for people seeking welfare benefits, resulting in wrongly denied food assistance to the poorest citizens in the state.
At a daylong hearing in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Carmen Garza that stretched into the evening, the state workers said they sometimes entered false asset information on emergency requests for food assistance as a part of a state policy created just as Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration came under federal scrutiny for its high rates of denying emergency requests for aid.
The New Mexico Human Services Department is required to fulfill emergency food requests within seven days of receiving an application for such assistance. Yet the employees, testifying under oath, said they sometimes altered the requests to reflect that those applying for the assistance had up to $400 in assets that did not exist, leading to the applications being denied or delayed.
At issue in the hearing was whether elements of the Human Services Department’s medical and food assistance programs should be put into a limited receivership in which a monitor oversees the state’s compliance with federal law.
Read more: www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/state-workers-testify-agency-fudged-numbers-to-deny-food-aid/article_1415527e-f923-5790-a6ef-79b527189a91.html