ORLANDO, Fla — For more than a year, Florida’s Department of Children and Families has been telling 9 Investigates there are no problems with the state’s website for SNAP and Medicaid benefits.
Channel 9 has now obtained records that show dozens of Floridians emailed the head of DCF directly to voice complaints, and even the company that designed the system highlighted defects from the beginning.
9 Investigates obtained the records after attorneys for WFTV filed a lawsuit against the state over the release of the public documents.
It comes after Channel 9 spent more than a year investigating issues with a Department and Children and Families’ website millions of Floridians depend on for benefits like food stamps (SNAP) and Medicaid.
Advocates said technical issues with the MyACCESS portal have cost hundreds of Floridians their benefits since the new portal launched in December 2023.
“You were like at the bottom of the pit. You felt helpless,” said Volusia County resident Megan Cooper.
Cooper has diabetes and temporarily lost SNAP and Medicaid in the summer of 2024 because the state said she never completed a required phone interview.
She said she couldn’t get through to DCF despite repeatedly calling the department. She also said she experienced document upload issues as she attempted to renew her benefits.
9 Investigates was eventually able to help Cooper get her benefits back. At the time, the state insisted the issues Cooper was experiencing were due to “user error.”
“I know for a fact it was never me,” said Cooper. “They obviously weren’t honest because it’s not user error.”
Buried in nearly 7,000 pages worth of records, Channel 9 found a presentation emailed to the head of DCF just weeks after the portal launched. It shows the state knew about issues Floridians were having with the system all along.
According to the presentation, the contractor DCF paid to maintain the online system identified widespread document upload issues from the very beginning. Specifically, documents were being received “without case number or type,” according to the presentation.
According to the records, just weeks after the MyAccess portal launched, the vendor, Deloitte Consulting recommended a three-month window to fix the portal’s issues.
The records show DCF only paid for one month, and with a week left in that window, the vendor still had 80 things left to fix.
“They knew there was a glitch. but it was easier to blame and gaslight the claimants than it was to take responsibility,” said Vanessa Brito, a community advocate.
Since the portal launched in December 2023, Brito said she’s heard from about 2,000 people struggling to get through to DCF to complete needed phone interviews.
She said some users were denied benefits because the state couldn’t see documents users repeatedly uploaded.
“We tout the surplus that we have. Let’s use that surplus to try and fix these problems,” said Brito.
9 Investigates pulled the contract the state signed with Deloitte in the summer of 2022 to operate the system. The original amount was just over $12.7 million, but to date, the state has paid Deloitte more than double that.
Channel 9 reached out to Deloitte to ask why the price went up but got no response.
“That’s a lot of money and that could have went to different things,” said Cooper.
Cooper said she’s angry so many people in desperate need have suffered while the state has dodged accountability.
“They just need to get their stuff together and fix it all,” Cooper said.
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