Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Economic Support topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Sawyer County HHS reports FoodShare, Medicaid caseloads and long call-center waits amid budget uncertainty
Summary
Economic support staff reported January caseloads and benefit issuance, call center volume and wait times; staff said no changes to benefits have been implemented despite news about proposed budget cuts.
Sawyer County Health and Human Services staff on March 11 reported January caseload and benefit numbers for FoodShare and Medicaid and described heavy call-center demand tied to news about proposed federal and state budgets.
Shauna, an economic support staff member who spoke to the board, said the county handled 1,243 FoodShare applications in January and issued $290,000 in FoodShare benefits that month. Shauna reported 1,123 FoodShare cases (about 1,959 recipients) and 2,595 Medicaid cases (about 4,082 recipients) across case types including BadgerCare, EBD and MAP. The county also recorded 7,882 call-center calls in January, with a longest wait time of 62 minutes; staff said those figures partly reflect local walk-in traffic when the consortium call center closes early.
‘‘The talking points right now was is really that that their benefits are not changing at this point,’’ Shauna told the board, addressing constituent concerns tied to media reports. Staff said the state is providing local agencies with talking points; as of March 11 no cuts to March FoodShare or Medicaid benefits had been implemented.
Board members discussed call-center hours and local walk-in volumes. Staff said the consortium call center closes at 2 p.m. on some days and that the local agency closes some afternoons to support retention of economic support staff. Staff suggested sharing the state-provided talking points with supervisors and board members so they can answer constituent questions.
No formal votes were taken. Staff said they will monitor federal and state budget actions and update the board when there are changes affecting benefits or processing timelines.
