Health and Human Services Commissioner Nicholas Toumpas says social services must be overhauled in New Hampshire.
Toumpas told House lawmakers his department can’t do business as usual given the lack of money for state programs. Toumpas calculates his agency needs $200 million more than in a pared-back budget Governor John Lynch asked him to prepare. Toumpas says now is a good time to re-examine the department’s functions and all the services it provides anyway.
He says the $200 million gap can’t be closed with tweaks. He says it will mean cutting some services. Toumpas says it is too early to know what services will be cut but that people should be ready for changes.