Libby, Kalispell welfare workers criticize state verification system

HELENA — The accuracy of Montana’s welfare system came under the microscope Monday at the Legislature, spotlighted by rare, under-oath testimony from state workers subpoenaed by Republican legislative leaders.

Two welfare workers from Libby and a third colleague from Kalispell who recently retired appeared before a pair of legislative committees, saying the state’s computerized system to verify and approve benefits is woefully inadequate.

“I’m here to speak about the mismanagement and waste I’ve seen over the last two years,” said Kirsten Brown, who is the client service coordinator in the state Office of Public Assistance in Libby. “I am not the only employee with these concerns.”

Brown and her colleagues said even though the system isn’t working, they’re under orders to process 70 percent of welfare-benefit requests on the same day they receive them.

“My interpretation is that we are to make the recipient happy, as best we can,” said John Desch, who also works in the Libby office. “I think we need to verify even more. Public assistance is needed, and I want deserving people to have it.”

Republican legislative leaders issued subpoenas late last week to Brown and Desch, saying they had to protect the workers from retaliation for speaking up about problems with the welfare-verification system.

The testimony came on the same day that Gov. Steve Bullock unveiled his bill to expand Medicaid — one of the welfare programs for which people apply through the Office of Public Assistance.

Many Republicans oppose the Medicaid expansion and have vowed to defeat it.

Rep. Ron Ehli, R-Hamilton, said the subpoenas issued by his committee had nothing to do with Medicaid expansion, and that the testimony was a follow-up to his budget panel’s earlier examination of the flawed computer system used by the Department of Public Health and Human Services.

“We want information so we can go take a look at the system in its entirety,” he said.

But at the later hearing before the House Human Services Committee — which is expected to consider the governor’s Medicaid bill — Desch said it would be a bad idea to expand Medicaid before problems with the existing system are fixed.

Rep. Art Wittich, R-Bozeman, who chairs the panel, also said Monday the testimony is relevant because it’s related to bills proposing to reform or change welfare programs such as Medicaid, food stamps and payments known as “temporary assistance for needy families.”

Democrats on the Human Services Committee repeatedly objected to and attacked testimony from the welfare workers, saying it was based on “hearsay” and without documentation.

In the morning meeting, Sen. Mary Caferro, D-Helena, also interrupted Desch’s comments, saying he was making unsubstantiated statements about people lying to obtain welfare benefits. Ehli then cautioned Desch to stick to the topic of the computer system.

Top state health officials also addressed Ehli’s committee, saying the system, installed more than two years ago, has greatly improved and that they were continuing to work on it.

“We want it to be accurate and our staff to be efficient,” said Bob Runkel, manager of the economic security services branch of the department. “Knowing there have been a number of problems, it’s been all hands on deck.”

The trio of current and former welfare workers, however, said the system remains cumbersome and doesn’t work well, creating verifications they know are inaccurate and failing to catch errors in benefits.

Linda Ruther of Kalispell, who said she retired from the Office of Public Assistance after 33 years, said the state should consider scrapping the multimillion-dollar system — or putting more pressure on the contractor, Deloitte, to fix the problems.

“I did a lot of testing before it went live,” she said. “We knew it was not ready. ... They knew before we ever started that it was really still a mess.”