ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Advocates for recipients of food aid and Medicaid health care are urging the New Mexico Legislature to keep tabs on wasteful bureaucratic problems that can cause aid beneficiaries to submit applications repeatedly and unnecessarily.
An attorney for the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty that represents aid beneficiaries on Friday briefed members of a legislative committee that oversees the state Human Services Department.
The center says the Legislature can help monitor the agency's progress in accurately and efficiently disbursing Medicaid health care benefits and emergency food aid under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, previously known as food stamps.
Separately, a federal judge recently has recommended the Human Service Department be held in contempt and pay for a court-appointed monitor to ensure better handling of federally funded benefits.