GALVESTON COUNTY, Texas – Fraud and abuse of medical passes have Texas Department of Transportation officials rethinking who gets priority boarding on the Galveston-Bolivar ferry.
The department is planning on replacing paper medical passes with an online system to better control access and reduce misuse. Officials say old paper passes and cards may soon be phased out.
The medical passes were originally designed to help residents of the Bolivar Peninsula get quicker access to medical facilities on Galveston Island. But some riders have been using the passes like VIP passes to cut the line for errands, work, or simply to get home faster.
Shannon Gibson, a ferry rider, said wait times can be long, especially during summer. “I’ve come over the ferry and I’ve waited for about an hour, hour and a half,” Gibson said.
Dennis Forward, who received a medical pass after being diagnosed with congestive heart failure, said he wasn’t aware of any fraud and abuse. “There could be some, I don’t know of it, but every good thing gets abused,” Forward said.
TXDOT spokesman Danny Perez told KPRC 2 since 2006, more than 8,000 medical passes have been issued.
“There’s about 3,000 plus people on Bolivar, so what we’re looking at is to revamp some of the process of how we do that,” Perez said.
Currently, applicants must fill out a form, have it signed by a doctor, and submit it to TxDOT to receive a pass. The department is working with medical partners to develop an online application process that officials hope will reduce fraud and abuse.
“We feel that’s a way to reduce the fraud, reduce the abuse,” a TxDOT spokesperson said.
To address long wait times, TxDOT is also working on expanding its ferry fleet.
The new online system is still in development, but TxDOT hopes to implement it soon.