NC FAST leaves families on food stamps hungry; may not be ready to handle Medicaid claims, By Gregory Phillips, September 15, 2013, Fayetteville Observer: “When Robin Mukdahahn applied for government food stamps, she was told to check back if she hadn’t heard anything within 10 business days. So she did. Her husband had just left the Army, money was tight and they needed the help. “Every time I called, they pulled my case up and said it was still pending,” she said. After 38 days of calling the Cumberland County Department of Social Services, the benefits came through, but even then, the amounts were wrong…”
Tag: Computer systems
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – North Carolina
- Food stamp delay causes increase in food pantry visits, By Molly Parker, September 9, 2013, Star News: “There’s been an uptick in people seeking food at area pantries because of statewide delays in food stamp benefit delivery, say those who feed the hungry locally. The delays have been caused by glitches in the Department of Health and Human Services’ implementation of a new statewide computer system, called NC FAST. It’s meant to streamline delivery of services but has taken off in fits and starts…”
- DSS workers continue to offer food bank referrals, By Meghann Evans, September 5, 2013, Winston-Salem Journal: “Forsyth County Department of Social Services workers have referred more than 300 families to local food banks over the past month and are continuing to provide the referrals as they catch up with the case backlog from the NC FAST system…”
Electronic Benefits Payment System – North Carolina
NC’s online food assistance program produces long waits, frustration, By Thomas Goldsmith and Annalise Frank, August 5, 2013, News & Observer: “The state’s new electronic benefits payment system, aimed at greater efficiency, instead has Wake County food aid recipients waiting as long as eight or nine weeks for funds to arrive to put food on their tables. Longtime Southeast Raleigh activist Octavia Rainey told Wake County commissioners Monday that the problems have caused dozens of people to show up at her house to ask for help in getting food from churches, food banks and other sources. Known as NC FAST, the $48.2 million system was supposed to provide a new way to pay into recipients’ electronic bank accounts, but has been beset in Wake by repeated glitches and slowdowns…”