AUGUSTA, Maine — Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew faced grilling from lawmakers Friday over erroneous Medicaid payments as the administration prepared to shake up her department.
Mayhew told the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee that she should have alerted them sooner to a computing problem that led the state’s Medicaid program, known as MaineCare, to continue paying medical bills for up to 19,000 beneficiaries after they became ineligible for the program.
“In retrospect, when I was made aware of the concern and issue pertaining to eligibility, I should have brought it to your attention,” Mayhew said.
Mayhew said she was told about the eligibility problems in late January but the scope of the problem wasn’t clear until she was briefed on its potential impact last week.
Gov. Paul LePage plans to submit a bill next week to restructure DHHS, Mayhew told Capitol News Service on Thursday evening. The overhaul would include consolidating departments and eliminating some positions, Mayhew said.
She would not confirm whether existing employees would be laid off or moved to other positions.
The planned legislation is unrelated to the erroneous MaineCare payments, according to LePage’s office.
Since taking office in January 2011, LePage has swept a host of high-ranking DHHS managers from their positions.
“This is an internal reorganization of the department,” Mayhew said. “Most of the personnel decisions that we make have to be ultimately approved by the Legislature. We have been looking at the structure of the department to ensure that we are accountable for an efficiently structured department that can maximize taxpayer dollars to support the delivery of services and benefits.”
DHHS administers a range of health and social services including child welfare, food stamps and oversight of public drinking water. The MaineCare Services division oversees more than 20 subdepartments.
The restructuring legislation would result in savings within DHHS, Mayhew said, declining to be more specific.
She told lawmakers she’s still trying to nail down a dollar figure on the bad MaineCare payments, which accumulated over the last year and a half. The federal government, which foots the bill for two-thirds of MaineCare costs, is expected to come calling for its share of the erroneous payments.
The computer system that pays MaineCare claims has been plagued with problems since its launch in 2010. The system never was designed to “talk” to a separate system that tracks eligibility, which is now more than a decade old, Mayhew said.
Beginning in September 2010, 19,000 MaineCare recipients were notified that they had lost eligibility. But their MaineCare cards remained active, so they could still visit the doctor and receive other medical services. Health providers, which received the mistaken payments, had no way to know those patients no longer were eligible.
The ineligible beneficiaries with active MaineCare cards represent about 5 percent of overall enrollment, Mayhew said. Determining the financial hit from the erroneous payments will involve finding out how many of those people continued to get health care after losing eligibility.
The MaineCare payment blunder has cast doubt over state budget figures just two weeks after Republicans and Democrats reached uneasy agreement on closing a $120 million shortfall in DHHS this year. Lawmakers are still trying to resolve another $80 million gap for the next fiscal year and it will be at least a month before they know the financial impact of the erroneous payments.
Sen. Dawn Hill, a Democrat from York, said audits raised red flags about the computer problem as early as last summer. When lawmakers quizzed Mayhew later in the year about unexpected spikes in MaineCare spending, the problem still wasn’t identified, she said.
“Nowhere in that process and in all of those conversations, other than to tell us we had a crisis, were we ever told about the possibility that the count was way off and people may still be on MaineCare who don’t belong there,” Hill said.
Mayhew painted a picture of a siloed department where multiple warning signs about the bad payments failed to make their way up the management chain.
“This is more than an issue of systems not communicating,” she said. “This is more than the design of the system. This is about communications and management of a project and communications through management to the commissioner’s office.”
Gov. LePage on Friday expressed confidence in Mayhew and commended her professionalism and openness during her tenure at DHHS.
“Commissioner Mayhew will do what is required to understand what went wrong — from the technical issues to the way staff made and communicated decisions,” LePage said in a press release. “She has taken on the responsibility to fix this problem which predates this administration and I have full confidence that the commissioner will handle this situation with integrity.”
Lawmakers fired questions at Mayhew for more than two hours. She said she took full responsibility for the MaineCare payment error.
“You may have the worst job in the state of Maine,” said Sen. Roger Katz, R-Kennebec. “Thank you for doing it.”
DHHS has brought in the state controller and the Office of Information Technology to sort out the MaineCare payment problem and review the department’s computer systems. They are expected to report to the Appropriations Committee in four to six weeks.
So back in January when Mayhew was all, “these are the real numbers” she knew they weren’t. The Dems delayed because they wanted the “real” numbers, and now it seems the second set of “real” numbers they used to make the temporary fix weren’t the “real” numbers either… When the shake up at DHHS happens, can we require Mayhew & Co. to take a refresher course in basic math?
NOW it’s time to take action Paul? What was your first clue? Can you replace yourself? PLEASE!
He will be elected again because hes the man who can. Go LePage
Thanks for the laugh. I needed it.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Don’t hold your breath waiting for that, knowitall618.
I wont but I see you are already purple with envy
That’s not purple from envy, when you laugh as hard as you made her laugh you tend not to draw in enough air. That’s where that purple color is coming from.
Doesn’t Mayhew see she’s the next sacrificial lamb? LePage will throw her to the curb in a heartbeat. The best thing she could do for herself is come clean to all the LePage shenanigans she’s privy to, in a public Legislative hearing.
In my opinion to which i highly respect Mayhew never should had this position. You know lobbyist – they say what ever they are paid to say or support, manage 3500 people is way beyond the skill level of Mayhew.
People that knew and did not tell and continued to pay funds should be fired….
Like Mayhew and LePage, right? This was a political ploy to give him ammo to cry “wolf”. In retrospect she should have let the Legislature know sooner, You think!!!
There you go guessing again if you would keep quiet nobody would know you are a fool
Now don’t talk to your self in that tone – you will upset yourself:)
Well not everyone can be a “knowitall” I guess. Whoops I mean, I don’t guess. Whew that was close. Haha, it seems to be at least one thing you and LePage have in common.
… and draw state salaries…
Time to step down Ms. Mayhew. We wouldn’t want any of this mess to rub off on your boss.
Never has the following expression been more appropriate: IN YOUR DREAMS! LOL
Best News I have heard all day… Gut DHHS!
Can we expect that the 19,000 ineligible recipients be required to pay the state back ?
Please Governor LePage, get that restructure bill over the the Legislature as soon as humanly possible. Include eliminating some of the DHHS Personnel Bloat and throw in a requirement that erroneous payments must be repaid…and no more assistance until it is.
It’s our tax dollars being thrown away…I would like some of it back, please.
The funds were paid to providers (doctors, hospitals, etc) after they checked to be sure the patient was covered and then provided services.
So are you demanding that the recipient “pay back” the medical service or that the doctors and hospitals pay back money they were paid for services provided?
Maybe if a recipient and their appendix taken out you could demand that it be put back, or if they got medication you could demand that it be sucked out of their bloodstream.
Amazing, just amazing. First you fire anyone who might have known how the system works and then even after you realize that there is a problem you keep it secret from the Legislature. In fact you tell them that they have all the figures they need and then after they have passed the bill you wanted you yell SURPRISE. I wonder how the Republicans in the Maine Legislature feel about having the LePage Administration make fools out of them? Republicans you had better wake up and realize that Mr. LePage is in it only for himself and his closest friends and that you have been tossed under the bus. November is coming and the people of Maine are sick and tired of this tea party circus.
This failure began in 2005 under Baldacci, the new system to replace the failed system came online in September 2010, at which time they knew there was a problem but didn’t prioritize it. Now that they’ve finally gotten to the point of fixing it, you’re blaming it on LePage. Nice. Stay classy.
Oh come on. Mayhew and LePage knew and purposely withheld it from the Legislature. How can you defend them? This system is a year and a half old and has wasted millions. LePage knew and is just now getting around to fixing it. He’s had time to take down murals and cutting the pay and benefits of workers and retirees, but been too busy to face a problem of this magnitude. The words “classy” and “LePage” should never be used in the same sentence.
Nice try your wrong as always. As the person stated this started way back to the King administration even Dennis Bailey said it today on the WGAN Morning News radio program. The computer problem was made worse thanks to Baldy spending more than 50 million dollars to have the problem fixed. All it did was make things worse as we have seen for the last 5 years with this updated system put in. Brenda Harvey and Baldy knew these people were not supposed to get these services as the no longer qualify for the program. Something should have been done way back then. It goes to show you that Democrats didn’t care about the money being thrown out the window. All they care about is expanding these failed programs even more and screwing the taxpayer with higher taxes and less money for themselves.
Normally I don’t bother with you anymore, but I’ll make an exception this time. Mayhew herself said the computer software was changed in 2010.
If Dennis Bailey who works the brains for Angus King said it started with King, I take his words over yours. Why should I take you seriously coming from someone who keeps claiming Angus King, Eliot Cutler and Jim Longley Sr. are all Independents. When everyone who has a clue knows they are Democrats who refuse to run in any Democrat Primary. As I said you are always wrong on everything.
Dennis Bailey a man caught fixing a governtorial election. This is what you call an honest source.
If you would not comment, the end result would be ……….reality. You have no idea, nor do you research anything before you comment, research includes; investigating what you don’t want to hear. Like, many here have researched…….that we don’t want to read what you have to say, because……it’s almost always wrong.
So you’re saying Baldacci lied and hid the truth from the legislature while they were forming this year’s budget? Wow! The man casts a huge shadow.
Lepage doesn’t even listen to people in his own administration, why do you think he would talk to Baldacci?
That’s what you got from my comment? I guess we write different Englishes…
Actually Mayhew noted in her testimony today that they found the problem in September and put in a change request to have it fixed. When the LePage folks came in they failed to follow up on it. She did not blame the prior administration for one bit of this newest problem!
Yes, they found the problem in September 2010 under Baldacci. Apparently you were not listening that closely. She just didn’t scream, “it was Baldacci’s fault,” at the top of her lungs because she has too much class and she knows the Dems on the committee would recoil and play politics.
She also noted that when they found it they immediately put a change order in marked as urgent. The new administration came in then and just did not follow up (which Mayhew took full responsibility for) but when they got around to noticing and the change was finally done the system worked.
Exactly correct but your comment will fall on deaf ears.
Actually they came forth yesterday with the fact Baldacci told LePage in a written memo about the new system. Which by the way was required after a federal audit. The memo said this is top priority. LePage ignored this to put forth his agenda. In other words LePage has known this since he took office but hid it from the Legistrators and the public to get his way.
I’m sorry to say this but when I read all your comments on this topic it makes me feel sick. Not because you’re wrong but because you’re saying what is obvious. We are clearly being led by morons (Use a nice word if you like but this one fits best) who not only hate us but they don’t even have a clue as to what they are doing. Even sadder, they’re completely unaware of precisely how incompetent they are. Excuse me while I go throw-up.
I am sorry I said something that made you sick. Hope you are feeling better soon (just think November). What I find really sickening is the fact that there are still those few who rush to LePage’s defense like moths to a flame.
I heard an old saying spoken by an aristocrat in the movie Rob Roy that went something like this, “The good thing about the poor is that it’s not too expensive to hire half of them to kill off the other half ” (Sounds Shakespearian to me). In modern America, poor fools seem to be willing to do such labors for free! Aristocrats/One percenters rejoice!
“The good thing about the poor is that it’s not too expensive to hire half of them to kill off the other half ”Stop giving LePage ideas.
But-but-but I thought you wanted him to honor his commitment to bring us Jobs-Jobs-Jobs? The sad thing is that these LePage/Aristocrat followers are too dimwitted to realize that once they’ve killed off half of us, people like LePage will just hire the other half of what’s left to kill them off as well. Then likewise on and on until the world’s population has been brought under control to the point where every one percenter still has justtttt enough servants to provide for their every need.
I was hoping he would be able to bring us jobs that were legal. Of course now we know that won’t happen. I wonder how long it will be before he tosses his administrative assistant under the bus?
Maybe the BDN moderator will allow this reply to stay. My last reply was just completely removed without any ” Guest” ghost remnant, although it violated no posting regulations. So this time, without any jingles: DHHS has been adrift and largely unaccountable for decades. Giant budgets, little accountability. 1/3 of our population on MaineCare welfare, hundreds of millions mismanaged, mishandled, funneled to cronies’ businesses, or just plain lost. This is not a conservative or liberal issue. We have lost our way. The place needs cleaning, head to toe, with preferrably most of their employees shown the door to be replaced with less jaded, energized employees. I applaud Ms. Mayhew.
One of the big problems here is that some of these posters here consider themselves to be one percenters. Unfortunately they represent one percent of intellect used to defend this blight of a governor rather than the top one percent of income possessed.
That must be what happened to Lepage’s brain cells.
What we should go kissing the feet of Baldacci, King, Brenda Harvey (DHHS head during Baldacci years) , Kevin Concannon (DHHS head during King years) and the rest of the Liberals in Augusta. These idiots are why are we are where we are at today. If they didn’t go bonkers creating every Liberal Social Program and Pet Projects they can think of and worried about creating jobs Maine would be in a better position. How is Dirigo Health working for ya?.
Hi DC nice to hear from you again. I hope things are going good for you. I agree with you that the DHHS mess has been going on for years. As I said in my post on one of the other boards anyone that had the ability to read a newspaper knew that the computer systems at DHHS were not to be trusted. My problem with the LePage administration is that they had to have known that the computer system was not working properly. If you became the head of a multi billion dollar company and knew that the computers in your largest division, the one that spent most of your company’s money,did not work would you just let it go for over a year or would you do something to fix it? You knew about it, I knew about it, just about every poster on this board knew about it and Mary Mayhew , the one person who should have known about it, either didn’t or did and did nothing about it. To think that LePage didn’t know does not pass the straight face test. If a problem you are not aware of pops up that is one thing but when there is an ongoing problem that you knew about and do not do anything to fix it then the word for that is incompetence. Like I said on the other board if this had happened last year that would have been a different story, LePage had just taken over, but it isn’t last year it is now and there is no excuse for him not having done anything about it. It’s called incompetence and it is happening on his watch. LePage has gone to at least two Governor’s Conferences and met with other Governors. They all have departments similar to Maine’s DHHS and they all have computer systems. We are not hearing about this problem from any other State. The purposes of these Conferences is for the sitting Governors to get together and discuss the problems that they are having and how they are being solved. LePage dropped the ball on this one and all the finger pointing at his predecessors doesn’t fix it. He took the oath of office, he moved into the Blaine House, he travels around the country at our expense, it is time for him to stand up and be a man and take responsibility for his failure. That’s what real men do.
Hows Sarah Bara Cootah working out for you since ya quote her?
Cheer up! It only gets worse at the federal level. Did you ever hear Congressman Hank Johnson speak…? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNZczIgVXjg A Democrat, of course…
Some of the Republican leaders in Maine seem to be of the ‘old school’ variety that acted rationally to advance the good of the people, compromising across the table when necessary to move forward.
LePage will have none of that. He’s a blustering, blundering five-year-0ld in the body of a kingpin.
I resent your overly kind and forgiving attitude towards LePage
The thing is that with the way people are lining up to take LePage to court sooner or later he will be placed under oath. If and when that happens it is liable to be slam city for the big guy.
that’s what happens when you hire an arrogant, dim-witted junk peddler to pretend he’s competent.
You just said a “SYSTEM THAT WORKS” Houston we have a problem and some people are going to lose their jobs over it.
What I said was that they fired the people who knew how the system works. I never once said the system works. Nice try jimbob.
But the system DIDN’T work. Is your memory THAT bad??
No it didn’t work, but there were some people employed at DHHS that were aware of the limitations of the system and were able to work around it. We never heard of 19,000 ineligible people continuing to receive benefits until this crew took over did we?
Clearly 19,000 ineligible people was never a concern under Baldacci’s watch. Neither was illegal immigration. Free government cheese to all political supporters.
I don’t know if his memory is bad or not, but your ability to read sure is. He said they fired people who how the COMPUTER system works, ie, how it operates. AND he is saying they were fired and MAYBE may have been able to see the problem beforehand. He didn’t say the “system is working”. He is talking about how the computer system operates.
Now your clarifying someone else’s post by adding words. The both of you talk like you have inside information on how the ‘System Works’. How is anyone reading these comments supposed to know your thoughts? Maybe both of you are employees at DHHS and are part of the problem, but I don’t know just a thought.
Actually my memory works pretty well thank you. However I do question your ability as far as reading comprehension is concerned.
The system never worked and the people who were there flushed away $80 million on it with nothing to show for it. They should have been fired before they could retire.
I was thinking the same thing about the career old-timers who were fired a while ago.
The whole gung-ho Le Page approach to shaking up various departments, combining agencies for greater efficiency, is illustrative. Actually, what that does is cause chaos, without fixing anything, because they don’treally understand why things were set up the way they had been, what was actually working and what really wasn’t.
They were tired of looking at it and just felt it had to be changed, without delay.
Like moving the fishing rod display nearer to the hibachis and cedar planks with paper mache lemons – as decoration.
Like that.
The Feds will figure this out. I bet were going to find out there’s some Political agenda going on inside this agency.
Bye Mary…Hope the scarf was on sale…You forgot the rule of the LIEpage administration…Only ROBert Nutting can steal from MaineCare…
Say hello to Lauren LePage, your new DHHS commissioner!
“The
system never was designed to “talk” to a separate system that tracks
eligibility, which is now more than a decade old, Mayhew said”.
So in other words the System cannot communicate with the eligibility database. How in God’s name can this be???
Who
commissioned this system? What were the performance requirements/design goals?
If this is in fact true, all responsible parties and individuals involved
should be fired, fined, sued etc. I can’t believe what I am reading!
Believe it is true. It communicates but not to the level in which it needs to. Not sure if it’s a Molina issue or a state issue. Either way, if this was known back in the summer and didn’t get pushed up to the Commissioners office, that truly does indicate a problem with mid management. Not sure bringing in the State’s OIT staff is going to solve any problems though.
The problem was uncovered as soon as the new system went online in September and a change order was immediately put in. Then the LePage folks took over and did not follow up.
This is what Ms Mayhew testified today.
LePage forced employees responsible for reporting and re-entering the data to the other computer system to retire.
So we should be saving millions in pay and benefits.
Nope. LePage has been hiring new people at a record pace.
You did realize that the budget LePage submitted was a half billion $$ more than Baldacci’s right?
Funny, Isn’t that just about how much Baldacci and the Dems stiffed Maine hospitals and health care providers for that LePage is actually paying? Try not paying YOUR bills and see how that works out for you. Only government can get away with that…for a while.
Just to be clear it is the Eligibility System that was put in place in 2002, not the Billing system. So when the newer system was made it wasn’t set up to talk to the other system very well. A lot of stuff does get through, but neverthless, this error is inexcusable.
Lepage screwed up now some peon has to be fired.
Again.
“I’m in charge” Paul Lepage
… but the buck stops …
somewhere else
Maybe if you hadn’t thrown out all the institutional knowledge so quickly, some of these problems might have been caught sooner.
A lot of folks also quit, largely because of LePage’s mean spirited denigration of public employees.
And the changes he asked for in the budget regarding retiree’s and other changes for those soon to retire. Some had to, so they didn’t lose money and/or benefits.
You mean the bunch who flushed $80 million down the toilet for the Mainecare computer billing system during the Baldacci administration finally left? Man I am dancing with joy!!!
The vendor made those errors, and the person in state government most involved was fired but don’t let mere facts get in the way of your little happy dance.
And yet when they tried a second time they still couldn’t get it right. The replacement must have been equally incompetent. Boy those talented, dedicated, hard working (well, except on snow days) public “servants” can’t catch a break. Those evil vendors just keep taking advantage of them. I wonder how the private sector is able to successfully deal with those evil vendors. It’s a mystery wrapped in a conundrum surrounded by an enigma.
Actually the new system works now according to Mayhew’s testimony. The state employees involved recognized the problem immediately and put in a change order marked as urgent. The new LePage administration dropped the ball and did not follow up. This is all according to Mayhew’s testimony. Are you calling her a liar?
I had to get out or risk loosing my Health Insurance what I called forced retirement than of course my pension was reducedby 42 %. LePage and his Republican hacks deserve everything they are getting.
LaPage should have all the correct information, before he charges ahead with his threats and hysterics over things that he wants changed. This does make him look a clown. Is the fiasco over the land fill, going to go the same way?
Sarah Palin resigned, why can’t LePage do the same?
He will be elected again because hes the man who can Go LePage
Punctuation, you haz none.
But I got my point acrossGo LePage
Can the Governor fire himself?
If he did we would have Governor Lauren.
Nothing new at DHHS, during the Baldacci Administration they put into the dumpsters their computers for making payments to those authorized, before they knew the new system would work. Six months later the commisioner was bragging they were making correct payments 75% of the time. Yet, no one was fired! The Baldacci gang’s solution to the fuzzy math problem and monetary short fall was to not pay hospitals $300 milli0n dollars. This caused Democratic legislators to “celebrate” a balanced budget during their tenure in control. Folks running around claiming the current administration can’t get the math correct have a(conveniently) short memory.
Baldacci is history. Let’s discuss here and now.
We have to learn from our past mistakes and remember where they came from ! Lets learn from our past because if we make a mistake we should learn from it, but if we make the same mistake twice we havent learned a dam thing !
Great! So when you and others on the left want to blame Bush for the mess we’re in today, I know what my response will be!!
He also forgets that the problems started with the King Administration , Dennis Bailey even said so yesterday on WGAN’s Morning News Progam, and went on to say that the spike in the amount of folks on Welfare started with King. The “brains” of the King administration basically threw his friend under the bus. But Liberals will say its all LePage’s fault. Everything is LePage’s fault the Democrats get a free pass from everyone their shills on here and the media.
You are right darkcat33, it is not all LePage’s fault. He is only responsible for the lying, manipulating, and bullying since January 2011. Let’s give credit where credit is due.
And yet your “liberal” cousin does his bidding. You cannot have it both ways. Come on, try and be unbiased about this.
I am being unbiased. She is taking on a task that I would not wish on my worst enemy. I seriously doubt that she is doing his “bidding”. She is capable of independant thinking and did not take that unenviable position with any ulterior motives. No matter what she does, she will be unpopular with half the citizens of this state. I have to question if your skin would be thick enough to stand up to public scrutiny in her place? Maybe you could try a little neutrality yourself and give her a chance. She didn’t create that mess, she inherited it. Try to bear that in mind before you opine. I have every confidence that she will leave DHHS in much better shape than she found it.
——————————
Baldacci is not history. He’s doing Health Care at the Defense Dept for Obama.
In his defense, he hired the same outfit the Federal Government has used for years for plenty of IT related projects – CNSI.
Interesting time line starting in Maine in 2000 thru 2010:
http://www.cns-inc.com/about/history.cfm
2000:
Won first contract with the FAA
Won first contract with State of Maine for Enterprise Information System
Awarded National Institutes of Health CIO-SP2i contract…’
—
and State Client list.
http://www.cns-inc.com/clients/
—
The CNSI youtube video, many will enjoy.
Baldacci is doing Health Care at the Defense Dept for Obama.I didn’t know he was a doctor.
Yeah, you forgot about Jock right:)
Too bad that Penguin has to hang the commissioner out to dry and issue a press release from behind his curtain. Too bad he doesn’t have the skills to get in front of a camera and answer some questions himself.
They don’t allow him to. His handlers can’t control him that way!!!
They’re smart. Have to keep that big trap shut. one never knows what will come out of it
When speaking of Lepage or Mayhew I am tempted to say a “Limbaugh” but I was raised to be just a little more polite than him. So let me just say that both are pompous, arrogant, ignorant, GOP right leaning, unpleasant people.
Mary? Right leaning? lol. Unless she has changed parties in the last couple of years, she remains a life long Democrat, Einstein. Ignorant? lol. Apparently you have never actually met her? Mary is very well educated and intelligent, something you obviously know nothing about. Unpleasant? She happens to be one of the most gracious people you will ever meet, again, obviously, you have never met her. Say what you like about LePage, but Mary is my cousin and I take offense to your unfair characterization of her. She has taken on one of the worst jobs in the state to try and make a difference and affect some positive change. Maybe you can find something positive to contribute too.
Cousin or not! She’s the one that knew of the problem and did nothing to fix it. She’s just as much to blame as LePage. So don’t give me this relative crap to justify the mess. Your not one of those who got ineligible help are you? I payed for mine all my life and was disabled working. Now Lepage and her want to cut benifits to those who earned them to fix the problem.
While I’m not surprised you’d stick up for your cousin I do take offense to your “Limbaugh” choice of attitude. I’ve listened to Mayhew and I’ve read transcripts of some discussions with various committee’s. She, like you her cousin, is rude, arrogant, and pompous. If Mayhew is a Democrat then we need to redefine the word.
Limbaugh? Isn’t he the one who berates people he has never met? Just like you. Again, your characterization of a person you have never met is tacky and ignorant, at best.
Mayhew is a Democrat like Lauren LePage is qualified for her job.
yes, then he could tell us all to kiss his but and other similar gracious comments
So why isn’t one of the options being discussed, making the people pay back what they were not eligible for in the first place? The government has no problem going back years to collect taxes if they think you made an error, and no problem charging interest on it too.
You can’t take blood from a stone, but you can spend an awful lot of money trying to.
turnip (Brassica rapa subsp. rapa
If they owe taxes that means they work. It’s all about going after the working class.
it would be a task in futility. No point and a big waste of time. Plus the advocates would argue that it was the state’s fault in the first place because they let it happen
Wasn’t there something around that time about the computers making double payments to the hospitals also?
and the group homes. i know because a friend of mine does the billing for the home
LePage swept a host of managers out the door when he dicided he was going to improve the DHHS department. He took out the best and put in the worst. Look where we are now. He would have been better off to work with the existing staff. But no, he had a better Idea as stupid as it was. Look where you got us now dummy.
how in the hell can you blame this on the past administration? If it was a problem, then they should have corrected it. This is their problem, both need to go…..hopefully to Florida….this is sickening, chaotic, and untrustworthy………In 2010, there was no windows 7, I know for a fact, that the feds always upgrade their computers, if the state did not do so, then THAT….is their fault, ….no one elses
and your memory is ?
Lepages motto, “A crisis a day keeps detractors at bay”.
So, if Maine has to pay back the federal government for the 2/3 that they contribute to Medicaid coverage, then it really costs Maine triple of what we would have paid if the recipients were in fact elibible for coverage. What an embarrassing mess. I am astounded that Mayhew would wait so long to notify Appropriations. Mayhaps the state should wait 2 months before telling her she’s fired….and then tell her she has to reimburse her full pay and benefits package to the state for those 2 months. I wonder if that would express to her how grave of a situation she has allowed to continue, but as long as it’s not her money, she can be continue to be complacent about it….
Mary, you are ‘incompetent’ please resign !
Hopefully the AG will pursue the 19000 who actually knew the card wasn’t any good and continued to use it and thus committing a felony!
Good luck with that one.
It would cost more to take 19,000 people to court especially since they would have a very good case to avoid being found guilty. The state is infamous for sending one message one day and another saying the opposite just a day or two later. It would be reasonable to think it was just one more scr*w up when the cards worked and that their eligibility had been restored after review.
AGREE, But it would be a good idea to start with; also, if Mary should be fired or just resign?
So had the cuts to sytem worked in 2010 correctly would the DHHS have not been in red ink in 2012?
This comp system has been nightmare form day one. Money well spent by Govt again. Lot of questions to be answered here.
They ought to start with her.
Wish I was the beneficiary of a MaineCare computer glitch! Not……..hopefully someone tracks these people down and makes somewhat of an attempt to recover something…….not too optimistic. Can’t get blood from a turnip. It’s ridiculous this went two hours “uncovered.”
If they file a Federal or State income tax should be easy to find them and get some of the money back.
No one, nowhere, no how, has stated that the people were notified they were not eligible. If anyone makes that claim, we could not believe it with the incompetence of Mayhew and the governor anyway.
There is not likely to be a valid case against them.
But, as one Judge once said; You can put the turnip in JAIL!
Sem. Roger Katx states “you may have one of the toughest jobs in the state, thank you for doing it” IT APPEARS SHE DIDNT
You are kidding – right:)
Katz doesn’t have a clue either. He’s worse than his father when he was a Senator. Must run in the family.
Mary , if you are going down in a sinking ship take somebody with you , clean out DHHS !
… and the governor’s office.
So, last fall people were told they were no longer eligible and continued to use the Mainecare system, knowing they were ineligible. We have devolved into an entitlement society where individuals no longer act responsibly.
Given the normal communications from the state it would be reasonable to assume they had restored eligibility or had sent the letter in error.
The charges should not have gone through if they weren’t eligible so I doubt they have any liability.
‘Assume’, maybe you, not me.
People know what is right or wrong, and if they got the notice/letter, they committed a crime, but what the he^l; just taxpayer money, right?
Did you get yours and kept using it? ( The card?) Oh, never mind, you just don’t get it anyhow.
Typical personal attack by the uninformed.
I am not on Mainecare. never was.
Well, people may not want to hear it, but what you say has a ring of truth to it. Clients often get letters that say “you are open” followed by another letter, the same day “you are closed”. Confusion is rampant where DHHS letters are concerned.
I have even seen cases where both conflicting letters are in the same envelope.
If the medical charge goes through and is approved there is no reason for a recipient to question it.
Sorry, I’m not following.
If they lost eligibility and were properly notified, why did their card numbers remain active beyond any possible, short appeal process time they would, otherwise, be entitled to assert while continuing treatment(s)? Should these folks be expecting bills in their near futures?
Generally, there is lag time between the day of service, the day a bill is actually submitted for payment, and the day it gets spit back for ‘errors’.
This department, which deals with medical institutions, primarily, has been operating since when? Where do they get their information?
http://www.govcb.com/MaineCare-Third-Party-Liability-ADP13019412720000473.htm
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS RFP 201103049 TPL Recoveries
MaineCare Third Party Liability Recoveries
The State of Maine, Department of Health and Human Services is seeking proposals to provide the services defined in this Request for Proposal. The goals of this procurement are to identify overpayments or underpayments that may have resulted from inaccurate application of member cost shares and/or provider billing information and recovering overpayments or initiating reimbursement where services may have been under paid. Audits will be performed through reviews of hospital and long term care facility financial and medical records. In some instances, onsite review of these records may be required for targeted facilities in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Good Point!
The easy answer is this
Eligibility worker closes case in system A. Overnight System A is supposed to “feed” its info to System B (Billing system), this was not always working. So, while System A (Eligibility) had it correct, the billing folks using System B were seeing the client as open and paid the bills.
Due to the different levels of confidentiality, billing people are not allowed access to System A, only System B, and vice/versa.
A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five. -Groucho Marx
This sounds ‘made up’ and should be investigated by our Representatives, with consequences.
Wait a minute, Senator Dawn Hill, Democrat: a week ago, you and your side didn’t want ANY BODY to be dropped off Mainecare. Today, you are mad as hell that some people were on it.
Ahhh, the pungent smell of political hypocrisy……kind of smells like an open sewer….
So you are saying it is hypocritical to want eligible individuals on Mainecare to get services but not to pay for services for people who are NOT eligible,
Are you daft?
That is some twisted logic.
your post makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Re-organize the Blaine House and leave DHHS alone.
Way to go Lepage….go get um…. Let me just say…..I LOVE Lepage
“Mayhew holds a B.A. in Political Science.” No sure how someone with a BA in political science and a back ground in public relations becomes the commissioner of a State’s DHHS? I don’t get that.
From the Kennebec Journal, 01/20/11:
On Wednesday, LePage said he had trouble finding someone willing to take the DHHS job, so he turned to Mayhew.
“We have interviewed an awful lot of people from all over the country,” he said during a Cabinet Room news conference. “I will tell you right now I have been rejected more by women in the last two weeks than in four years of high school and six years of college and it’s all about money. We can’t pay enough.”
If that is true, it’s ironic. A lot of commenters think that state workers are overpaid or underworked or both. I’m sure that Governor LePage would want to cut spending on people who work for the government as unnecessary burdens on the public. But know he finds that he can’t get an important government job filled satisfactorily because of low pay? There is more than a little irony in this.
She was a lobbyist.
Apparently no one qualified was willing to work for LePage.
And most of her subordinates are mandated to hold masters degrees. I
hope that your comment is not true but am sure it is, not surprised
explains a lot. Republicans have accomplished the whoopie pie project
so lets give them some credit.
Because the Legislature won’t have all the information it needs, it looks like the Legislature is going to have to stay in session past the deadline just to deal with this issue. Or, they could not pass a supplemental budget for DHHS for 2013, let the department spend what it has appropriated using third and fourth quarters’ appropriations and deal with this in January 2013. This probably won’t please LePage, but too bad. Also, they are talking about getting rid of positions when the staff can’t seem to do the job now — does this make sense? I fear that we are in deep trouble.
Yeah, a shakeup at DHHS managed by LePage et al. That ought to solve the problem.
The DHHS staff was decimated when LePage came in. many were fired and even more quit rather than continue working for the loud mouthed bully who spewed hatred at them.
They cannot afford more of that kind of shakeup because it was a major contributor to the newest problem to begin with!
And the staff that left was amajor contributor to the problems of the last 10 years. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
He has destroyed DHHS as it is by eliminating people who knew how things worked, now he’s going to restructure the Dept. Just his way of taking any blame off himself.
If DHHS is destroyed then why is it still sucking us dry?
HOUSECLEANING…. Long OVERDUE!!! TOP to BOTTOM>……
Lepages —War on Welfare!
We have found the enemy,
and it is us!
http://images.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/03/kelly_pogo_earthday.jpg
Hymy?
Hmmm, I have a feeling she might have to look for a new job soon.
“Gov. LePage on Friday expressed confidence in Mayhew and commended
her professionalism and openness during her tenure at DHHS.”“You may have the worst job in the state of Maine,” said Sen. Roger Katz, R-Kennebec. “Thank you for doing it.”
doesnt sound like she’s in danger yet. but then again he’s a liar so who really knows.
Understand people that this has been going on for decades.
The blood hounds are now unearthing the sins. They cleansed the MTA, now working on the DHHS and MHA. Get’er done!
I was right yesterday. There will be a job opening for DHHS commissioner. All interested applicants please submit your resume. The preferred candidate will be honest.
“Gov. LePage on Friday expressed confidence in Mayhew and commended her professionalism and openness during her tenure at DHHS.”
“You may have the worst job in the state of Maine,” said Sen. Roger Katz, R-Kennebec. “Thank you for doing it.”
doesnt sound like she’s in danger yet. but then again he’s a liar so who really knows.
Meet your new DHHS commissioner, Lauren Le page. Time for that next step up the ladder!
Why did so many people lose eligibility all at once. Did any of them know they were not eligible ? Is the over all problem a case of right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing?
They didn’t loose it all at once. The Baldacci Adminastrations new computer system didn’t delete them one at a time like it should have… This all happened when John Baldacci hired a donor to his campaign to put in a new 125 millon dollars computer system…
POLITICS HAPPENS!!!
Brenda Harveys mess from her failed leadership at DHHS, but liberlas here dont want to get to the root cause.
Wow. So many lies in just a couple of sentences. Amazing!
1) The new system works fine for eligibility determination and correctly removed those whose eligibility changed . When it was first started, it was immediately seen that it did not communicate this correctly to the payment system and an urgent change order to fix that was put in (Fall of 2010). LePage’s folks dropped the ball and failed to act on this issue which they were informed of.
2) The Company hired to do the programming doesn’t contribute to candidates. It’s CEO contributed to Rudy Guliani (R-NY)
done
dhs has been corrupt for years.”computer glitches ” have cost taxpayers millions of dollars,with no one held accountable.this whole system needs overhaul and new faces.
Lepage lies and you bought it hook line and sinker. The old bait and switch, we are in a crisis need to act now! thanks for acting but look at what i forgot to tell you! grow up you repukes he is a five and dime street swindler like the draft and taxes lots of criminal investigations and charges waiting on this administration. I think Mardens should take a look at its books after this clown.
Why has the computer programing problems not been addressed. The software that has been installed into the system has not worked since it was installed. I think it’s time that bought a new system. I also think that and independant audit needs to take place as I beleive that alot of money has been paid out in error.
Mayhew says it now works and that the problems were seen and changes requested in September of 2010 but the LePage administration failed to follow up until just recently.
Job’s governor, where are the job’s?
Mayhew is toast.
Maine Republicans will pay heavily at the polls in November.
Penguin is a one-termer if he even lasts that long
Senator Katz will you explain why you thanked Commissioner Mayhew of DHHS for what? She is Commissioner of the largest department in Maine government, she has access to more bureaucrats than any other Commissioners, there are program folks, healthcare providers and assessors, and bean counters-lots of bean counters. Now you, the rest of the Legislature and we, the voting public learn she knew that the budget count her people gave her to report to Appropriations as they labored, in good faith, to develop a new budget, were predicated upon lies she told them! Again, tell us why you thanked her. Senator Katz, you got some ‘splaining to do. We are waiting.
Mayhew didn’t cause the problem but should have reported it immediately. The billing system has been screwed up for years. Many questioned her qualifications from the start. One of the few female appointees in his adminstration and damn she is floundering!! The last woman standing may be his daughter. LaPage might have a better grasp on this pending crisis if he
had not hastily fired most of the people who understood the DHHS system and history.
Can we start at the top with Mary, please!!!!
I see that Commissioner Mayhew makes mention that the root cause here is about communications and management of a project and communications through management to the commissioner’s office. I’m some what confused by this statement after working the past decade on these two projects. (MeCMS / MHIMS)
Since the MeCMS implementation back in 2005 was such a disaster, there was a new approach to the MHMIS project. A new project manager was put in place as well as the contracting of a consulting company (and their numerous staff members} to oversee project management, oversight, communications and implementation of this latest claims system. Graphs, charts, and spreadsheets were created in a large enough volume to wipe out acres of rain forest. Meetings were scheduled for weeks/months in advance. The team worked nights and weekends as well as shutdown days. With all of the project staff, outside agency staff and management that attended status meetings, change request meetings, testing meetings and steering committee meetings, to say that communications and project management is the issue surprises me greatly.
With all of the news articles we can all see how much better this approach worked.
Maybe 3rd time lucky.
I never thought I’d miss the old BULL mainframe, WELFRE, green sheets, gray sheets, and return letters so much.
That’s what happens when you contract our services to an out-of-state company thats it it for the money. I love it. How much is this going to cost vs. having keep the project in house?
Your description of the state process is accurate but you did not stress enough that consultants, managers, and more managers made 90% of the decisions, not true IT people. I was involved in one part of the 2005 disaster and told them flat out that the portion I was working on would not work, the vendor had never tested it, had the wrong information, and IT WOULD NOT WORK.
DHHS then ordered me to implement my admittedly small portion and guess what? It did not work. They refused to spend what was needed to make it work correctly so instead spent money and a lot more of it from “a different pot” to patch, babysit, and limp along.
You’re absolutely correct, I think 90% is a little low and again you’re correct in that “meeting the date” was the all important factor to these persons. Let’s call it the “Ostrich” project, enough of them had their heads buried in the sand and didn’t listen to staff.
You can thank the Bladacci administration and the failed Dem hacks infesting government for that. But all of you state employees keep voting the Dems in and you can expect more of the Violettes and McCormicks to run things in Maine government.
You missed the point. Contracting out by appointees is the problem. We can hire properly trained IT staff, accountants and more from Maine universities but when they are told that the pay is frozen at 60% of the average as of four years ago it makes it a little harder.
Even so we still have highly skilled technicians, dedicated to saving money.
LePage will not listen to them and has said he wants more contracting out to be run by his buddies. Made in Maine sign, made in Texas, says it all.
And who hired these appointees? The Maine Dems have had control for 35 years. Like I said, we can go right back to having the unqualified Violettes and McCormicks running thier personal fiefdoms or we can start to hold people accountable, Instead we get the bunker mentality of the state employees. Don’t rock the boat.
Again, you miss the point. Appointing political hacks, i.e. Mary Mayhew, to do jobs they are not qualified for is a government problem, not a R or D issue. Unqualified people at the top mean that they are afraid to hire qualified people in their own departments who might see how bad they are. They outsource the work, and you can be certain no vendor is going to tell them they are dumb while taking their cash.
State Employees can do most of these jobs, at a lower cost, while working harder because they want to work for both themselves and their neighbors, not stockholders.
On the DHHS computer issue. Simple summary. She knew, she lied.
35 years of Dem hacks, supported 100% by the state employees union bruoght us to where we are today, but when the sorry state of “service” paid for by the taxpayers is brought to light the state employees act like innocent bystanders with no complicity. While working harder was a great throw away. You forgot to add, “unless it snows”.
Maybe the meetings aren’t the problem. Maybe they just need qualified people in the meetings for a change.
Or to listen to what staff is informing them of and not worry only about meeting a deadline date.
Mayhew withheld her knowledge of the problem? By her own admission she should be canned.
If the Commissioner gets the ax it would be interesting to see what she may say about LePage. This could get more interesting. Stayed turned.
Mistakes happen, plain and simple. the EE’s DHHS are overworked & underpaid.
Mr. LePage, please give these unappreciated people a raise ASAP.
The unappreciated people in DHHS cost us $120 million for a computer system that never worked properly. Only in government “service” would that be a reason for a raise.
He should give them a pink slip!
They approved the whoopie pie, took down that mural, stopped voter fraud, now is time to fix that commadore vic 64.
Ha ha, funny but most likely very accurate
Perhaps to get a better understanding as to what originally happened all of you might wish to read the article at this link:
http://www.cio.com/article/20133/Maine_s_Medicaid_Mistakes
Regardless of who is at fault, this has to be fixed.
That is an article about a problem 6 or 7 years ago. That system was scrapped and replaced.
By a system that was not working for the State of Idaho government. The State of Maine knew this but were so desperate to resolve this, they bought it anyways. And, yes, it did occur during the Baldacci administration.
A lot of people are awfully defensive of the train wreck John Baldacci and Angus King created. Be assured, they will be properly vetted by the public when they run for Senate. Being the darling of Maine liberals does not make you immune from the truth and the actions you take while leading the state. I love accountability.
Angus King will win.
Probably enough bath salts floating around to elect another liberal. Snowe was no favorite of conservatives.
Ahyup, okay , you have a right to speak non-sense.
But others are blind to the train wreck damaged good dealer’s incompetence.
Take the log out of your own eye.
Your the one who sounds like the liberal baldi parrot. This problem was crreated under Brenda Harvey, where were you protesting as she ran DHHS into the ground? Tough to blame the new commish for all the former peoples mistakes!
Mayhew testified that the problem was addressed through a change order in September of 2010 but after she took over they dropped the ball and never followed up on it until just recently.
And that is Brenda Harvey’s fault how?
The first and most important step in any restructuring will be the resignation of the Governor.
you got that right.
Baldi is gone, I think you need to ask Brenda Harvey why everything was so screwed up under her watch as commisioner. Note she has a new hack position as some Director of New England States consortium systems organization!
Perhaps Mayhew should be on the list of those to go off the payroll. How is it that so many people can’t run a business? There must be SOMEONE in that office that can do bookwork, and admit when there are problems, not wait until stuff like this happens. Again, stop with the Political Appointments and start looking at Resumes and job performance like most business does.
This woman as it seems only is concerned of her appearance and looking fashionable, which, she isn’t. She looks like a washed up Carly Simon but her knowledge of the problem and her not sounding the alarm, well, it just screams Blatant Incompetance. The woman isn’t qualified to wash dogs let alone head an organization that has such broad economical impacts. I’m sure this “mistake” is a big contributing factor to those numbers LePage is throwing around with the MaineCaire Budget. My only hope is that they do not make those recepients directly responsible and say they have to pay back for services paid. DHHS is quick to make someone pay back for fear of sanctions when they witheld or were not upfront about income to get more benefits…well see here Ms. Mayhew (and I use the Term loosely), seems you were not forthright in all things and now “YOU” should be made directly responsible for paying back monies paid out that were not supposed to have been and tenure your resignation.
that’s because no intelligent, competent person would work for the incompetent buffon LaPage.
You seem horrified that ANYONE would have to pay for health care that are ineligible for in the first place. Backwards thinking is synonymous with liberalism
By that, If you are implying that I do not pay for Health Care then you are sadly mistaken, What I find horrible is making someone else responsible to pay for one person’s oversight especially when she admitted to not making it a priority..well guess what? It was KINDA IMPORTANT. You sound like one of the 1% who feel entitled.
I don’t particularly care who’s a Democrat and who’s a Republican in this thing because there’s obviously some blame to be spread around.
First and foremost, DHHS notified the recepients of their ineligibility and yet they continued to use their Mainecare cards to receive service knowing they were inelegible. Isn’t that fraud? Or did they feel no culpability simply because their cards still worked so it wasn’t their problem?
On the administrative side, Baldacci and the Democrats commissioned the creation of a computer program to help administer DHHS payments but “neglected” to require that that system communiciate with the other system, the “eligibility” side of DHHS. When they finally figured out that there was a problem they put in an emergency request to get it fixed, but it took nearly 18 months for anything to be done about it. (What is there about the word EMERGENCY that some people didn’t understand?) Why wasn’t it made plain to the company designing the program that it HAD to communicate with the other program? Why did it take over a year to get it fixed?
By the time it got fixed (if it HAS been fixed – I’m still unclear about that) there’d been a change in administration. Baldacci was out and LePage was in. IIRC at the beginning of Lepage’s campaign he made an issue of the DHHS overspending so he was aware of it but didn’t include it in his budget, apparently instead hoping he could make cuts in DHHS to offset the overage. (or… he knew of the problem and wanted to later use it as an excuse to fire someone from Baldacci’s administration. Naw, he wouldn’t do that! LOL)
Now he wants to solve the problem by firing the person who knew of the issue, tried to get it solved immediately, and may be the only person with the expertise to get it taken care of RIGHT. Why would he do this, you ask? Because it’s been brought to the forefront on his “watch” and rather than take ANY responsibility for it he’s going to fire someone and make them the scapegoat, hoping that firing someone will take all the heat off HIM.
A Governor (someone who knows how to govern) would instead explain the situation to the people, explain that there IS enough blame to go around, get the problem taken care of, and ask for forgiveness from the people. Unfortunately, Governing isn’t something that’s in Lepage’s skill set.
I read your comments and agree with most of them. Bureaucratic intransigence is a deep rooted problem in this state and is not easily discovered. It is the inherent sleaziness of govt. paid employees who know that their check will be there regardless of their performance which is the largest problem. I do not see where the Gov. is even considering terminating Commissioner Mary Mayhew. It is clear due to past articles that the Commissioner is committed to getting to the root of the DHHS bureaucracy ineptitude and has the Governors support for her efforts. It does take time to correct these problems. I would say however that we have seen more cleaning up in the last 12 months than in the past 20 years.
The mental health workers got emails to meet at Riverview next Wednesday morning. I would hope they would not be so stupid to eliminate such a critical service.
So some of the 19000 comitting fraud were using these services, maybe the state should look to see if they can charge some these people with fraud too!
Baldacci’s Mistakes are still with us.
biggest mistake of all is sitting in the Blaine house right now.
I know – how dare that “evil” LePage try to undo the corruption of previous administrations and years of Democratic leadership that has zero integrity. The truth can be very painful – especially for a bunch of freeloaders scamming the system.
Surprise, surprise. This has been the agenda all along. “Dismantle” might be more accurate, though . . .
What I don’t understand is, they have NEVER done any audits. I have called years ago about complaints. I asked them Don’t you see whats going on? Don’t you see where the money is going? And how many are “stealing from this system”? They had no idea what was going on in this department. And when I called they didn’t seem to care. I was in shock. How can you give out money and not even bother to do an audit trail? I’m not at all suprised, I knew this big mess would catch up to them someday, sad part is, this just cost us more money years. Keep in mind NO one in Augusta cared, or did Snowe and Collins they were notified.
They just knew it just had to be fraud.
So they ran in cycles, shouting “Fraud, fraud !!!” , and saving tax payer’s the cost of an audit.
Nice work.
There are multiple audits of these programs every year.
Good, you can start with that incompetant Mary Mayhew.
LePage is the product of parents that hated him. He dealing with some serious sick personal issues. Rather than handle them face on he’s taking his self hatred out on Maine’s working class. Give him time and he will crash and burn. They always do.
Good news for the public and Le Page.
Our over – dependency on the computer couldn’t be illustrated any better than this.
You punch the information in, and that’s it. No one questions the computer. No one, except someone who believes that the figures don’t add up.
You can run “Spcll Check.” It’s not infallible.
But anyway, the over payments might help some of the 68,000 Le Page was anxious to slash from the DHHS roles.
“Beginning in September 2010, 19,000 MaineCare recipients were notified that they had lost eligibility. But their MaineCare cards remained active, so they could still visit the doctor and receive other medical services. Health providers, which received the mistaken payments, had no way to know those patients no longer were eligible.”
“Mayhew told the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee that she should have alerted them sooner to a computing problem that led the state’s Medicaid program, known as MaineCare, to continue paying medical bills for up to 19,000 beneficiaries after they became ineligible for the program.
“In retrospect, when I was made aware of the concern and issue pertaining to eligibility, I should have brought it to your attention,” Mayhew said.
Mayhew said she was told about the eligibility problems in late January but the scope of the problem wasn’t clear until she was briefed on its potential impact last week.”
Well, now we all can see what really happened.
They were so busy trying to save money by cutting jobs,
or running around like Henny Penny,
shouting about how much fraud is going on ,
that no one noticed what the real problem was them.
Talk about government waste…
If stopping fraud all of kinds is their priority, what are we to think about this,
the GOP Caucuses and the fact that they are the enablers ?
It is as if they are Maine’s real Marxists :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtMV44yoXZ0
Translation, Baldacci managers at DHHS, should have queried the system for the 19000 layabouts back in 2010(cant blame Lepage). Then sent out notifications to all 19000 layabouts and told them theywere no longer qualified for benefits and to return the cards and remind them if they used the cards, they would be committing fraud which is a punishable offense.
Then they should have placed markers in the computer system for every one of those names to make sure there would be no payments to any hospital or provider.
They should have notified all providers with a list of the names and also set up a 800 line at DHHS where any provider could double check the eligiablity.
Instead the Baldacci DHHS people couldnt be bothered and then never told Lepage and Mahew about frigged up their computer systems are.
Two month is a computer glitch.
Fourteen more is a fuster cluck, and the computer still has to fixed.
Government waste ?
Deal with reality, or deal with the criticism that naturally results, gracefully please.
Have a nice day.
As reported yesterday the new computer was put in in2010 by federal mandate. Baldacci wrote a memo to LePage telling him of the problems with the new system. LePage ignored this warning and proceded with his tea party agenda.
The 19000 should have been booted and forced to return their cards. Or new cards should have been issued by Baldi, to the other folk less these 19000 cheats. That is how you resolve it. Or you make everyone on Welefare to come back to re-apply for a new card. Not a big issue, but guess too difficult for Brenda Harvey DHHS Commissioner to understand.
She is the one who created this mess and has cost the state millions of dollars!
agains this is all Baldis fault!
Most of the 19000 only became ineligible after LePage took office. It is the total number from Sept 2010 to today.
LePage is all for transparency for others, but not himself.
DHHS is like a toilet…..it needs to be flushed …..and keep flushing it untill all the @%$# is out of the bowl .
Way to go Gov! Keep cleaning up Baldy’s mess. First Violette, then Mayhew…wait what about McCormick? Lepage will get us back on track.
Time for Mayhew to fall on her sword to protect Landslide LePage.
maybe if LePage had some competence and a little class he could get smarter people to work for him. not much chance of that happening though.
We, the sate, should stop any overpayments and require that people that received an overpayment return that money. When I recieved an overpayment on u employment, I was required to pay that money back. It took me almost a year.
That would be the Doctors and hospitals, right?
time to revert back to paper!! hahaha! or buck up and buy a new system, and hired a tech to de-bug issues.
What a crock…..!! Neither of them are willing to say…what is what? Get rid of them both!! “Declined to say”…..and “wasn’t specific”……what’s up with that? It’s just more of the same ole LePage crap!!, and it’s starting to stink real bad!
Typical Koch brothers tactic, destroy from within, then privatize….The playbook is clear!
Ms. Mayhew, is just about par with our Legislature, our Judicial committee, and our supreme Judicial court, so why pick on just her?
once again we are talking and not fixing. Shaking up DHHS is not going to fix the problem. Put the problem solvers in place and let them fix and train the employees at the same time. There naturally is more to this but quit pointing fingers and fix it. I for one am getting tired of reading about it and whose fault it isn’t. :)
And I for one am tired of throwing wheelbarrows full of money at the problem with no results.
Anyone, and I mean anyone at multiple leve;s, should have looked for a major 5% reduction in eligiblity numbers and not looked for a decline in expenditure.
Let me know when he CLOSES it down all together!!
Everyone seems hell bent to lampoon LePage, yet no one is upset over their withholdings being sent to 19,000 ineligible people?
DHHS clearly needs a shake up. People seem resistant just because they don’t like LePage. Look past the messenger and look at the message.
So you are really upset with lePage for allowing 19000 people to receive benefits even after he had been informed the system had an error and a change order needed to be implemented?
The lies should stop here, and the legislature should find out who knew what and when and get records of information, oh I forgot lepage wants to keep that secret.
… and now we begin to see why Lepage put in a bill to exclude his “working papers” from Freedom of Access requests.
Yea that’s it go after the low level workers. Not the leaders who have been covering things up.
This dept has so much responsibility……more than LePage could dream of handling, more than Mardens, even.
Yeah, they’re responsible for “losing” $200 million without a trace and wasting $110 million on the Mainecare billing system, Unfortunately, no one was held responsible for either of those screw ups. Responsibility and DHHS go together like oil and water.
SHAKE IT UP ! SHAKE IT OH BABY , SHAKE IT UP ! From the immortal words of the 70s band the CARS !