Oklahomans face long wait times for SoonerCare Helpline
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — Some Oklahoma families with SoonerCare say navigating the system has become increasingly difficult with hours spent on hold.
"My son just had surgery and so we have follow up appointments and I know we're going to be doing physical therapy for at least three months, so I don't want to have a gap in my coverage at that point," said MarNee Altebaumer, SoonerCare member.
Altebaumer was trying to keep her son's benefits active after receiving a letter in the mail stating if she didn't submit proof of self-employment benefits would go away.
"I had uploaded whatever I had tax-wise, but it had stated that they were unable to process my information, so I'm forced to have to call them at that point," said Altebaumer.
Those calls hit a roadblock.
"Had over an hour and a half wait time, and I think that there was over 100 people in queue," said Altebaumer.
The next day she called again and had no luck.
"It comes on and it says, 'we are in training; we're not taking any calls,' and I got cut off," said Altebaumer.
Altebaumer reached out to News 4 and called again; this time she got an answer.
"I finally got to talk to somebody who then directed me to a form that I had no idea that I was supposed to fill out," said Altebaumer.
After uploading the form, she was told her case was expedited and benefits would stay, but for others she knows that's not the case.
"I know a friend of mine; she just went without services for her kids for over six month," said Altebaumer.
The Oklahoma Health Care Authority is aware of the long wait times and is working to reduce them.
"We're always exploring staffing and work flow efficiencies at the agency, and we're also looking at using some new innovative technologies," said Christina Foss, chief of staff, Oklahoma Health Care Authority.
One of those is a new callback feature, which nearly 27,000 members utilized last month.
"It takes about an average of 52 minutes to receive a callback," said Foss.
Some, like Altebaumer, believe that feature won't help everybody.
"If you're busy or some people aren't allowed to take calls at work, then that's not going to be beneficial to them either," said Altebaumer.
The Oklahoma Health Care Authority receives over 4,000 calls a day and encourages members to use self-services on their website.
The agency also says it has not and will not terminate coverage for eligible members when documentation is submitted on time.