Lula Jackson, Director of Social Services, addressed issues of healthcare and heat with commissioners at the November 21 meeting.
Lauren Monica | Anson Record
Lula Jackson, Director of Social Services, addressed issues of healthcare and heat with commissioners at the November 21 meeting.
Lauren Monica | Anson Record
WADESBORO — Ms. Lula Jackson, the Director of Social Services for Anson County, addressed county commissioners at the November 21 board meeting, speaking about health care and heat issues.
“I want to make sure commissioners are aware that we are approaching December 1, which is kick off for the low income energy assistance program (LEAP) and in 2023 it will also be the kick off for Medicaid expansion for the state of North Carolina,” announced Jackson.
DSS is expecting a large influx in both customers and applications for both programs. Applicants will be able to enroll in person, over the telephone, and electronically.
Working to combat this issue, Jackson announced that DSS will be reaching out to community organizations to see if they can make their computer labs available for customers who want to be able to more easily apply for LEAP or Medicaid expansion programs.
For the first week of December 4-8, Anson County DSS will provide extended hours. Hours will be from 7:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. for staff, and 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
“Starting December 1, we serve a target population for those 60 and older and receiving services through the division of Aging and Adult Services. That 60 and older population that received benefits in December of 2022, and who are also currently receiving food and nutrition services benefits, will be automatically processed,” explained Jackson.
If there are changes, DSS employees will have to review those applications, otherwise, applications with no changes will be automatically processed. DSS is anticipating a high volume of new applications as the state has increased income eligibility requirements, making citizens that were not previously qualified now eligible.
“With the low income energy program there is an increase in income eligibility, so a lot of elderly that were not eligible in December ’22 will possibly be eligible in December of 2023, so we do expect an increase there,” Jackson said. “As a side note I want to mention, that right now temperatures are mild, but if there is a sudden drop in temperatures, we currently do not have available heating assistance. The funds have not been allocated through the state for Crisis Intervention Program, the regular heating program; though we have been informed there is a $55 million decrease in the funds that were available last year as compared to this year. I just want to make you [commissioners] aware of that as we approach December and the probability of temperatures decreasing.”
Following Jackson’s update, Commissioner Priscilla Little-Reid inquired if the vacancies in the Medicaid Expansion positions the department had have been filled.
“We have filled two of the five positions… An Income Maintenance Supervisor position has been filled, Income Maintenance Caseworker Lead Worker has been filled, and there were four IMC2 positions… two IMC2 positions have been filled. We have been interviewing and we are hopeful to have at least two additional persons in place by December 1,” answered Jackson.
“They will not come in ready to do applications, unfortunately,” she continued.
Cognizant that many citizens chose to apply over the phone, Commissioner Woodburn asked, “I know you had a problem last week with the phones, is there anything that we can do to help?”
Responding to Woodburn, Jackson answered, “Fortunately funds were made available for providing technical support implementation… we are working with IT to try and make sure that the phone system is available. With the extended hours, staff will be prioritizing Medicaid expansion. We are going to be adding additional staff to the queue so where we currently have two, the plan is to have at least a maximum of four, and we will decide how we need to shift that once the calls start coming in.”