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| Audit Criticizes "All Kids" Operation |
A new audit slams the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services for how the All Kids program was run last fiscal year. That program was expanded in 2006 by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich without lawmaker approval.
Among the audit findings by Auditor General Bill Holland:
* The agency and the Department of Human Services misidentified children as undocumented immigrants, when at least some of those children were legal residents and could have qualified for a higher federal reimbursement rate
* DHFS paid out claims when families weren't paying premiums
* Birth records were not included in 43 percent of the case files that were audited
* A lack of rules allowed families at higher income levels to join
* The passive redetermination process, which doesn't require families to update their income information, is an impediment to receiving federal reimbursement.
Taxpayers coughed up $70 million last fiscal year for the expanded All Kids program, and premiums brought in about $9 million.
New agency director Julie Hamos, a former state representative, wrote in a letter to Holland that, "The Department agrees with many of the report's recommendations and the report will assist us to better serve those clients for whom the state pays for healthcare benefits. I am committed to carefully reviewing the ways in which HFS can tighten up eligibility policy and procedures to assure accountability while at the same time assuring our beneficiaries are treated fairly and preserving our federal funding."
(Illinois Radio Network) |
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| 05 12 10 by Newsroom |
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