Around midday on Thursday, nearly every seat at the Department of Economic Security office on Fort Lowell Road in Tucson was filled. Some people had been waiting all morning. One woman approached the building, walked inside to see the lack of empty chairs and immediately returned to her car.
Tucsonans like Gabriela Franco were waiting to apply for state-issued services like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid, also known as the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System or AHCCCS. Many had already experienced delays with the former when the federal government shut down this fall and President Donald Trump refused to release full timely benefits.
Now, the state agency that administers welfare programs says it’s suffering the effects of summer time layoffs: a huge backlog of applicants. The Tucson DES offices have either denied or not responded to AZPM’s media requests, but an agency spokesperson told The Arizona Republic that applications are taking an average of 28 days to determine eligibility, and about 54,000 people across the state are currently waiting for their applications to be processed.
Franco, a single mom, said she often waits several hours at the DES office to drop off her renewal paperwork, meaning she has to take time off of work and bring her daughter along at times.
She’s a caregiver with the state Division of Developmental Disabilities, but has had to cut her status to part-time so that she could qualify for welfare benefits. It’s more economical for her to only work part time and receive state and federal aid rather than work full time and pay for insurance.
“I've done my job. I've gone to school. I've done my learning and everything. It's still so hard in this economy and then the prices of living just keep going up,” Franco said.
Franco said she pays $1,600 for rent alone. After going through health issues this year, she said her hospital bill was $10,000, for which she is depending on her Medicaid coverage.
Franco said that DES requires her to renew her application every six months so the agency can ensure her income continues to fit the requirements.
“When I come to DES and I show them where my money goes and I tell them I also have to pay car insurance and a car payment to get my kid around, and to school and go to work, they say it's a luxury,” Franco said.
The requirements to apply for SNAP and Medicaid include proof of identity and income, and may become more extensive for those who require maximum benefits.
Makoya Donza is also in a bind. She’s 37 weeks pregnant and her Medicaid is in limbo. After changing jobs, DES paused her AHCCCS insurance because her former employer is refusing to provide proof of her unemployment with that company. Until the case is closed, she cannot reapply for benefits.
She said she knows she will have to start paying her medical bills out-of-pocket because “the process is long.”
For her, the process has lasted more than 15 days: the number of days she said she called DES until somebody finally answered the phone. But even after she got a response, Donza said DES will not accept her application until she proves she no longer works for her former employer.
In this back-and-forth, Donza said her former employer is threatening to claim that she is trespassing and harassing them for the proof she must provide to DES.
Like Franco, Donza is a caregiver and although she is employed with a new company now, she won’t be able to afford the medical insurance it offers.
Asked if she achieved anything at the DES office on Thursday, Donza said: “No, the line is too long in there and you don't talk to a case worker in there.”
She said there’s an online system to upload documents, too, but that the agency often says it doesn’t receive them.
“I don't know if they don't get it or if they get lost in the system,” Donza said, of the online applications.
She walked back to her car, awaiting an appointment with her gynecologist later that afternoon, anticipating the bill she’ll have to pay on her own.
