‘We're trying to do everything we can to get people access to healthcare [and] access to insurance that they are entitled to.’
By Megan Navarro SAN MARCOS —
Community Action Inc. of Central Texas (CAI) recently received a $1 million grant from St.
David’s Foundation that will be geared toward improving access to healthcare.
In May, St. David’s Foundation launched the “We All Benefit” funding opportunity focused on increasing access to quality, responsive care by supporting organizations or collaboratives currently enrolling eligible Central Texans in health insurance benefits — Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Affordable Care Act (ACA) for example — and supporting individuals, the community and organizations in the eligibility determination and enrollment process through outreach, education or training.
A total of $7.4 million in funding was awarded through 16 grants. These investments, supporting enrollment efforts at nearly 100 sites, will allow organizations to scale operations and services to immediately reach high-need populations, according to the foundation.
On Sept. 24, the St.
David’s Foundation announced that CAI was a recipient of a $1 million award from the We All Benefit call for proposals. Beginning on Oct. 1, the two-year grant will focus on enrolling/re-enrolling eligible Central Texans in Medicaid and other government health insurance options.
“This grant award is going to make a meaningful impact on the work we do in Hays and other Central Texas counties. Having access to healthcare is a vital part of developing healthy and successful families, academic success in school, maintaining employment and raising families out of poverty,” said CAI Executive Director Doug Mudd in a news release.
“We are very excited to be partnering with several local nonprofit organizations to disseminate information about the assistance these grant funds will provide. We hope to become the center of these efforts to help eligible Texans access the services they are entitled to.”
Within the last two years, more than 2.1 million Texans — with nearly half being children — have been disenrolled from Medicaid, even though many of them are eligible for coverage, according to CAI.
This lack of coverage has led to many lowincome families missing important medical appointments, as well as creating financial burdens on healthcare providers, hospital systems and more by having to provide uncompensated care for these now uninsured patients.
It is the goal of CAI’s project, which is internally titled Accessing Healthcare in Central Texas, to reach as many eligible citizens as possible and help them enroll in Medicaid and other publicly-supported health insurance programs and provide case management to shepherd their applications through an often-confusing system. “St. David’s is very alarmed by how many people are being dismissed from Medicaid. So, what they're doing is funding organizations like ours to go out and basically re-enroll or enroll people in Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program or if they qualify for Obamacare (ACA), but the primary focus is on Medicaid. The way we got to this point is during COVID, they let people's Medicaid eligibility stand for one year. Normally, you have to reapply after six months, [but] because of COVID and all of the problems with that, they let everybody stay for a year, and then after a year, people forgot to re-enroll,” explained David Wiley, project manager and health services consultant for CAI. “Plus, the state's system is really messed up. They are denying coverage to people who are clearly eligible. We spend a lot of time trying to find out why somebody was denied Medicaid when they've been on Medicaid for years and all of a sudden, they're ineligible when they shouldn't be.”
The grant that CAI received is for two years. According to Wiley, between now and the end of September 2026, they are dedicated to intensely go out and sign up people for Medicaid who need it.
“This is a direct service to citizens. We're going to go out and find people and recruit them to fill out the paperwork — and, obviously, determine eligibility first. For people that don't qualify for Medicaid, they might qualify for some level of Obamacare (ACA) and we're going to navigate that for them as well,” Wiley said. “The primary purpose is Medicaid. This is not to enroll people who are not eligible.”
About Community Action
Established 60 years ago as part of the nation’s War On Poverty led by President Lyndon B. Johnson, CAI is a community-based nonprofit organization that serves the following counties across Central Texas: Bastrop, Burnet, Blanco, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays, Lee, Llano and Williamson. CAI’s goal is to improve Central Texans’ economic self-reliance through a wide range of services and community partnerships.
Since that time, it has grown into a large integrated health, education and human services agency that provides a multitude of services across its jurisdiction. It now operates 13 Head Start and Early Head Start centers in Hays and Caldwell counties.
Listed below are some key dates in CAI’s history.
• 1968: Began providing reproductive health services to low-income women in Hays County.
• 1974: Began providing reproductive health services to low-income women in eight counties in the rural capital area.
• 1986: Added primary health care services in Hays, Caldwell, Blanco and Bastrop counties and a prescription assistance program for uninsured residents of Hays County.
• 1988: Became the major HIV/AIDS service provider in the rural capital area offering education, testing, counseling and intensive case management to HIV positive individuals.
• 1992: Became the Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program provider in six rural capital area counties.
• 2000: Became the major provider of adult literacy education, GED preparation and English as a second language education in the rural capital area.
• 2002: One of 30 entities in the entire country to receive an Early Reading First grant award from the U.S. Department of Education.
According to its website, CAI currently operates one health clinic in Hays and Caldwell counties that serves clients from the surrounding counties and is the primary medical home for hundreds of low income women in the rural capital area.
Additionally, as a member of the Addressing Cancer Together (ACT) Coalition, CAI is able to provide free breast cancer screenings. The nonprofit just came off an 18-month United Way grant for its breast cancer program; during that period, CAI was able to serve nearly 600 women who would have not had access to mammograms.
In order to be able to provide these services across 10 counties in Central Texas, CAI works with other nonprofits and organizations, Wiley explained, including the Hays County Health Department, churches, community groups, etc.
“We partner with other nonprofits in the area to work with low-income Central Texans with the goal to make them self-sufficient … One big thing that I did this last year [was] I went to every hotel and restaurant up and down Interstate 35 to give them information about our free mammogram program and our free women's clinic. We literally do walk-in-the door outreach. And then, obviously these other events, anytime there's any event where there's families and kids, we're there,” he explained. “There's a small, but effective coalition of groups that serve low-income families here in Hays County. We all kind of show up at the same events and we're constantly sharing information about how to help people and the referral network is pretty intense … That's the way most nonprofits work with low-income families. That's how we work and operate in both intense partnerships with Hays County Health Department, other churches and other nonprofits.”
More information will be released regarding CAI’s Accessing Healthcare in Central Texas project, Wiley said.
To learn more about CAI’s services, visit www.communityaction.com.
