When the announcement came down that the state was shuttering the Texas Consumer Health Assistance Program after its federal grant money expired, there was a collective tsk-tsk and reports of dismissed employees and blaming the congressional gridlock for “leaving smaller entities, such as the TCHP, in the front line to be cut.”
The announcement also came with a telling statistic: The office was opened with a $2.8 million federal grant, hosted 160 events around the state and fielded 6,000 calls to its hotline.
Audrey Selden, senior associate commissioner for consumer protection at the Texas Department of Insurance, which oversees the program, told a Washington Post reporter that “the grant provided us with the opportunity to ... actually take the 20 or 30 minutes, or however long, to help someone complete an application.”
Few knew of the program until it was gone. But at a cost of $466 a call, there was some critique and questioning.
The reports of the closing also noted that the grant provided for the hiring of nine employees, who moved about the state telling people of the health insurance options here.
But the state didn’t exactly hire nine employees. The operation, overseen by TDI, was administered by Selden, a Harvard lawyer who was not a new hire but has been with the state since 1994, according to records. She receives a salary of $145,653.
The office also had its own director, Aelia Khan-Akhtar, according to this document. Khan-Akhtar makes $74,421 and has been with the state at least since September 2010 as part of the state's Technical Advisory Committee on Claims Processing.
And the events numbered 151, according to records obtained by Texas Watchdog, including a Dec. 8 “meeting” in Washington DC – between Selden and the same Washington Post reporter who broke the news of the office’s closing. Also included in the meetings was an interview with a Fox affiliate in Austin.
State employees representing the assistance program at these meetings included Marty Otero, who previously worked for the Texas Workforce Commission, Mistie Hinote, a publications writer for TDI, and Kate Spencer, a Web administrator at TDI formerly with Texas Health and Human Services.
The team did presentations at McKinney ISD, Kroger stores in Denton and Lewisville and a Texas Department of Transportation small business briefing.
Audrey Selden, senior associate commissioner for consumer protection at the Texas Department of Insurance, which oversees the program, told a Washington Post reporter that “the grant provided us with the opportunity to ... actually take the 20 or 30 minutes, or however long, to help someone complete an application.”
Few knew of the program until it was gone. But at a cost of $466 a call, there was some critique and questioning.
The reports of the closing also noted that the grant provided for the hiring of nine employees, who moved about the state telling people of the health insurance options here.
But the state didn’t exactly hire nine employees. The operation, overseen by TDI, was administered by Selden, a Harvard lawyer who was not a new hire but has been with the state since 1994, according to records. She receives a salary of $145,653.
The office also had its own director, Aelia Khan-Akhtar, according to this document. Khan-Akhtar makes $74,421 and has been with the state at least since September 2010 as part of the state's Technical Advisory Committee on Claims Processing.
And the events numbered 151, according to records obtained by Texas Watchdog, including a Dec. 8 “meeting” in Washington DC – between Selden and the same Washington Post reporter who broke the news of the office’s closing. Also included in the meetings was an interview with a Fox affiliate in Austin.
State employees representing the assistance program at these meetings included Marty Otero, who previously worked for the Texas Workforce Commission, Mistie Hinote, a publications writer for TDI, and Kate Spencer, a Web administrator at TDI formerly with Texas Health and Human Services.
The team did presentations at McKinney ISD, Kroger stores in Denton and Lewisville and a Texas Department of Transportation small business briefing.
***
Contact Steve Miller at 832-303-9420 or stevemiller@texaswatchdog.org.
Keep up with all the latest news from Texas Watchdog. Fan our page on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Scribd, and fan us on YouTube. Join our network on de.licio.us, and put our RSS feeds in your newsreader. We're also on MySpace, Digg, FriendFeed, and tumblr.
Follow Texas Health Care Report on Twitter, and fan us on Facebook. Texas Health Care Report is a project of Texas Watchdog.
Photo of needle by flickr user stevendepolo, used via a Creative Commons license.
Contact Steve Miller at 832-303-9420 or stevemiller@texaswatchdog.org.
Keep up with all the latest news from Texas Watchdog. Fan our page on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Scribd, and fan us on YouTube. Join our network on de.licio.us, and put our RSS feeds in your newsreader. We're also on MySpace, Digg, FriendFeed, and tumblr.
Follow Texas Health Care Report on Twitter, and fan us on Facebook. Texas Health Care Report is a project of Texas Watchdog.
Photo of needle by flickr user stevendepolo, used via a Creative Commons license.
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