(Trenton) – Assembly Budget Chairman Gary Schaer (D-Bergen, Passaic) issued the following statement at the conclusion of testimony received from the state Department of Human Resources (DHS) Commissioner Velez on the failure to fully implement the Consolidated Assistance Support System (CASS) after seven and a half years which has created a backlog of Medicaid applications:
“It has taken DHS nearly eight long years to successfully work to develop and implement this system, yet it’s still not operational.
“Meanwhile, Medicaid applications are piling up and the residents we should be helping are suffering from this gross inefficiency. Further delay will continue to place our programs at risk and cost us more money than it has too.
“This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this administration acting as though it’s OK to hire or continue to work with entities that have been fired for failing to complete a similar task in another state.
“And now, we can see in the hundreds of patients waiting for Medicaid, how continuing with this practice will not get us very far.”