Department of Social Services asking for more money

The Department of Social Services gets $8 billion each year from the state of Missouri, more money than any other government agency.

At a Tuesday hearing, DSS for nearly $200 million in supplemental funds.

For the Medicaid system alone, DSS is asking for more than $100 million.

Social Service workers said the additional money is for “shortfalls in the Medicaid budget”.

A nurse testified Tuesday she’s seen several people, including pregnant women, not able to sign up for Medicaid.

“It was even frustrating for us because with our assistance they were still waiting two months, three months, four months, before their Medicaid was covered,” said Helen Risse.

This resulted in the women not getting medications they need during pregnancy.

“We ended up resorting to calling legal services,” said Risse.

Even after this, they are still waiting to get signed up for Medicaid.

Representative Sue Allen said she had another meeting this week with the director of DSS.

This is when she found out about a second glitch in the computer DSS computer system.

DSS Director Brian Kinkade said they have doubled up on staff to try and fix the problem.