Texas agency wants $300 million to improve its neglected Medicaid enrollment system

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) will ask state lawmakers for $300 million to improve its Medicaid application systems, which have been widely criticized for being sluggish and overly complicated, the Texas Tribune reports. The request comes as hundreds of thousands of state residents have been dropped from Medicaid coverage and, as agency officials admitted, they're unable to meet federally mandated deadlines for completing benefits enrollments. If the Texas Legislature signs off on the money, HHSC would hire 1,000 new workers and conduct upgrades to decades-old computer systems, according to the Tribune. Advocacy groups have expressed growing concern that the enrollments, which should be completed in weeks, currently take months.