Texas Launches Bilingual Web Site Allowing Residents to Determine Eligibility for Public Programs
The Texas Department of Human Services, in conjunction with American Management Systems, last week launched a bilingual, Web-based tool to help residents determine eligibility for more than 50 state assistance programs, including Medicaid and a variety of medical assistance programs (AMS release, 10/31). The State of Texas Assistance and Referral System allows English- and Spanish-speaking residents to enter personal information and then generates information about programs for which users qualify, such as nonimmigrant and undocumented alien family medical assistance, community care for the aged and disabled and medical assistance programs for the medically needy. The site does not, however, offer online enrollment in the programs (STARS Web site, 11/5). STARS is the first phase of the larger Texas Integrated Eligibility Redesign System initiative, a project created to improve the delivery of DHS social service programs, in part through the replacement of several of the department's outdated automation systems with an integrated system (AMS release, 10/31).
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