Senator John Kennedy lit into the Louisiana Department of Health, demanding to know exactly how much money has been spent on Medicaid recipients who were found to be ineligible for the program. Kennedy says he would like the Legislator Auditor to find out how much was spent and is asking LDH to work with federal officials to recoup misspent money.
“All you can do it try to chase people down, and obviously a lot of people aren’t going to have the money, the cow may be out of the barn. When the Department of Health pissed away this money it may be pissed away for good.”
37,000 people were found income ineligible after a new computer system ran a check of the entire Medicaid database. LDH says the usual turnover in a given month is 18,000.
LDH Secretary Rebekah Gee defended the department saying under the old system income was self reported, and even if an ineligible person received services, almost all of the cost was covered by the feds. Gee says the majority of those found ineligible made just above the line, and would still be considered working poor.
“Some people made 16,500 and got a mammogram. We cant have everyone pay that back, nor would it save us any money.”
Kennedy criticized the defense, citing one case of a person making $300,000 a year while signed up for Medicaid.
The new program, implemented this year, confirms a person’s income with Workforce Development before approving or denying an application, or booting an enrollee off the program. Kennedy says the new system may not be trustworthy, but Gee says it was installed by a vendor who’s done trustworthy work in other states.
“It uses machine learning and technology to run numbers, and uses data for that, so I would have no idea what information he would be using to make that statement.”
But Kennedy distrusts the new income check system. The Senator called for the Legislative Auditor to confirm the system’s integrity, saying LDH leadership was not trustworthy, and claims Gee’s past record indicates that you shouldn’t just take her at her word.
“I don’t know anything about her computer program, except that they just keep screwing up. For all i know her new computer program is going to allow her to implement her boneheaded ideas ten times faster.”
Gee says the Senator has been uncooperative in the past, refusing to return calls or talk to LDH after making previous accusations against the department.
