AUGUSTA, Maine — House and Senate leaders put off a Portland lawmaker’s plea for an independent investigation of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Legislative Council on Thursday afternoon tabled the request by Sen. Joseph Brannigan, D-Portland, for an audit of DHHS by the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability.
Republicans hold a majority on the council, which is made up of leaders in the House and Senate. Brannigan said the 6-4 party-line vote to delay a decision so close to the end of the legislative session effectively killed his request.
“They didn’t want to say no to a request like that,” Brannigan said of the vote to table the request. “They just ducked.”
House Speaker Robert Nutting, R-Oakland, called Brannigan’s move “a well orchestrated media event aimed at fanning partisan flames.”
Brannigan sought to have the Legislature weigh in on the DHHS audit by submitting a bill requiring the investigation. He needed the Legislative Council to green-light the legislation because the deadline to submit a bill for this session has passed.
The council could still take up Brannigan’s request at a later meeting, though the session is quickly approaching its mid-April conclusion.
“The people of Maine [fully] expect transparency,” Assistant Democratic Leader Justin Alfond of Portland, a member of the Legislative Council, said in a statement. “It is disappointing that Republican lawmakers don’t share the same sense of urgency.”
Brannigan doesn’t need a bill to request that OPEGA investigate DHHS, but he said he has little hope that the busy office can consider the audit before the end of the session.
“I think it’s pretty futile,” he said.
Approval from the Legislative Council would have given his request more clout, Brannigan said.
In a letter sent Wednesday to Republican leadership on the council, Brannigan highlighted “substantial shortcomings” within the department.
He cited a January complaint from an unnamed MaineCare provider who had waited more than a year for payments and couldn’t get questions answered by a DHHS employee.
Brannigan also faulted the department for failing to respond to requests for data about its operations, leading to lingering doubts about the extent of the department’s budget shortfall and continued uncertainty about the impact of budget cuts on individual hospitals.
“The audit should address the department’s internal operations and communications with providers and the public,” Brannigan’s letter states. “The independent audit should contact providers and stakeholders to understand the extent and diversity of the problems. The report should recommend measures that will ‘cure’ the problems.”
Brannigan’s request came a day after a fellow Democrat accused the LePage administration of covering up financial problems at the agency.
Democrats have criticized DHHS for withholding information about a computer problem that led the department’s MaineCare program to pay for benefits for up to 19,000 people after they lost eligibility.
“Senator Brannigan should know better than to use highly inflammatory terms like ‘cover-up’ when referring to the recent computer problems at DHHS, particularly when the Legislature is in the process of trying to find the root of the system’s difficulties that began, and went unreported, during the previous administration,” Nutting said in a statement.
Senate President Kevin Raye, R-Perry, called Brannigan’s actions a “stunt,” saying in a statement that the “Government Oversight Committee and the staff at OPEGA has proven themselves capable on what should be investigated. If they believe any part of DHHS deserves investigation, they will call for it.”
On Wednesday, state Sen. Elizabeth Schneider of Orono accused DHHS and Commissioner Mary Mayhew of providing bad information to the Appropriations Committee as it weighed painful cuts to MaineCare during recent budget negotiations.
Mayhew has said she should have alerted lawmakers sooner to the MaineCare computer problem. Its scope didn’t become clear to her until after budget talks had wrapped up, she has said.
An independent review of DHHS prompted by the erroneous MaineCare payments is already under way, led by the Department of Administrative and Financial Services with support from the office of the state controller, Mayhew said in a statement Thursday.
“The decision whether OPEGA gets involved is not ours to make,” she said. “We welcome their investigation provided the timing is such that it does not take away from the staffing resources currently dedicated to resolving system issues and conducting critical financial analysis.”
“On Wednesday, state Sen. Elizabeth Schneider of Orono accused DHHS and Commissioner Mary Mayhew of providing bad information to the Appropriations Committee as it weighed painful cuts to MaineCare during recent budget negotiations.”
Schneider is a joke, always has been. I’m in her district and can’t wait to help get her voted out.
Mayhew is the joke here. Her department is a mess….
Yes, that’s absolutely correct. She created these long standing problems in one year – it certainly couldn’t have happened under the Democratic watch the last 27 years could it?
It’s not that she created the problem, it’s that the legislature can’t get solid numbers from her department.
And they did under the previous administration with the millions of dollars of unpaid hospital bills inherited by LePage?
What does that have to do with my comment? The LePage Administration got the hard numbers for unpaid hospital bills…and, to their credit, paid them promptly. The problem with the DHHS numbers are they keep shifting. The legislature cannot pass a budget if two months later they have to pass another, or supplemental budget; all the effort the first time to get it done the first time around is for not
No they didn’t. And they inherited the structural problem that lead to even more money needing to go to the hospitals. I will echo your quote on this one: the legislature cannot pass a budget if two months later they have to pass another, or supplemental budget
Who cares what administration it happened under. It’s time to correct it, don’t you think? Do you really think two wrongs will ever make a right?
Do the audit, find out the extent of the problem and correct it – THAT is the right thing to do. Pointing the finger of blame can be done AFTER an unbiased independent report confirms what the problem is and when it began.
Hoping that it will fizzle out by pointing the finger of blame is never going to get my vote of confidence in any administration. It reminds me of a couple of little kids standing in front of mommy pointing at each other saying”He did it” while the other says “No, she did it” each hoping that Mom takes their word for it and blames the other. You know what? Mom doesn’t want to hear all the blaming and whining – she wants the truth and she wants the problem corrected…NOW, not later. If she can’t get the truth from her kids she’s going to either punish them both or find out the truth from an unbiased party. It’s pretty simple really.
So, if it happened under the prior administration let an independent audit expose that. Let an independent audit uncover the extent of the problem and the financial impact. Independent auditors are not limited to a single year – the records are there for them to examine from all of the prior administration terms as well as the current term.
Frankly I think that it’s quite revealing and very odd that the current administration isn’t jumping at the chance to show that Democrats are to blame, don’t you think? Now is their chance to really prove that it was the fault of the prior administration and, they don’t want to do this? Really? Why?
your comment was unfair. She was handed a mess and is trying to clean it up. And in doing so has had her on issues. One of the other commentors took you to task about the previous administrations. One of the biggest problems i see here is the program that they purchased. It is not working even after pouring more money into it. Maybe they need to look at a new program only take their time and get it right.
She is termed out, D.A.
She’s termed out. But you can vote against Cain. She is termed out too, and of course she wants to stay on the taxpayers payroll, so she is running for Schnieder’s seat. We can not afford to have Cain and her socialist ideology continue to influence our way of life!
I agree whole heartedly. The socialist Cain is twice the problem of Schneider. Schneider was just useless, whereas Cain is dangerous to our way of life. I noticed that she’s been hogging the media limelight a lot lately, so it doesn’t surprise me that she’s running for the state senator. God help us!
branigan is another windbag that has been there too long…go ahead and investigate…will make baldacci look pretty bad..
If you haven’t noticed, there’s another person (allegedly) running the state now. And the auditors will be looking how Le Windbag is running the department, not a former governor.
Not so fast…
Just like the Maine Turnpike Authority, Maine Housing Authority, and DHHS; few problems were “created” over the past three years, and any investigations, just like MTA, should go back many years.
I’ll bet you lunch at Dysart’s that Baldi was at the helm with this ship headed south.
Joe’s not a bad Senator, just off base on this one.
The D’s are having a tantrum, because they are not used to being the minority party and being treated the way R’s were for decades.
Well, those that are not so used to being the nominal majority, for some reason,
and who changed things, in part with their promises of more transparency in State government are not looking so very good, here, are they ?
Where is all the transparency we were promised ?
That is the first clue, isn’t it has- a- clue ?
Let’s see you blame how suddenly conservatives are fighting against more transparency on forty years of sensible government, instead of less than two years of running Maine like it were a bargain basement store for out of State conservative operatives pushing a dogmatic agenda that keeps shouting fraud, but which is short on, not only convictions,but even indictments.
Covering up the computers problems will mean that the best defense for both the guilty and the innocent will be the computer problems, just to clue ya.
Nominal majority? Apparently you are not reading the comments. The tide has turned. The jig is up. Voters are learning what the Democrats have been up to and they don’t like it.
LePage’s administration is transparent. What is also transparent is the media bias which refuses to cover anything but the Left’s narrative.
This “article” is a joke. Schneider is lying, as is Brannigan. Democrats have known about the computer issue since 2006.
Brannigan is the one who should be investigated. He shuffled $98 million dollars to Shalom House (of which he was director) while stiffing Maine’s hospitals for $450 ++ million. And ‘Portland legislator calls for investigation of DHHS’ is the headline?
Ridiculous.
Yes. Let’s talk about transparency. And Violette, and Maine Housing, and the rest of the $235 million missing from DHHS . Let’s start there.
Be happy, bayview10.
Don’t compromise. Between now and November might be the best days of your life.
OPEGA did ten audits/reports in DHHS while the Democrats controlled the legislature and Baldacci was governor
TEN
… but the Republican leadership is afraid of even one?
What are they hiding?
It is past time for an independent aduit of DHHS. The havent ever been able to add $2 dollars and $2 dollars and come up with $4 dollars.
I’d tend towards blaming that on the computer system, wouldn’t you ?
The first thing to check is how long someone has been on TANF. There are some who have been on TANF for years.
The “T” stands for “Temporary” just in case someone did not know.
The average length of time a person receives TANF is 18 months. Those that are on longer are for the most part disabled or the families of SSI recipients.
Tanf is small beans compared to the internal waste of taxpayers wasted money . Internal fraud from caseworkers using company cars and still getting paid mileage for using there own vehicles for the same trip and using DHHS laptops for there own personal use , Deceit and deception baby ! They have ridden the gravy train for so long they couldnt survive without it !
And you have proof of your accusations?
you bet i do ! Dont answer questions that you dont want the answer to . TRUTH HURTS ONLY THE GUILTY !
Just because you are able to string lies together in a reasonable use of English does not mean you are not talking about things you don’t have proof for. P.S. If you use your own car you get far less than federal mileage. If you get in an accident, your insurance pays. If your insurance goes up because you use your own car, tough luck. If you have proof, and don’t present it, you are an accomplice and you too should go to jail. So are you lying, cowardly, or an accomplice?
LOL ! Maybe lies in your eyes, not for me ! I have no reason to lie ! I dont work for DHHS and it sounds like you do !
You are a liar.
Don’t forget going to the gym during work hours, coming in late, leaving early!
That is absolutely correct also !
And your proof is….?
I’d like to here what your proof is also. Your statements are ridiculous. It’s very obvious you have no idea what you are talking about.
Wonderful …. let’s do an audit. The problems in DHHS have been going on for sometime.
An independent audit would expose the error if it has gone on for years… nothing limits an auditor to one year. So why not do it? What’s the harm?
DHHS sights concerns about an audit taking up the time of their staffing resources (employees). If it’s to be an independent audit that means state employees won’t be taken away from their jobs… auditors are perfectly capable of reviewing books without their help. Actually, I’m sure auditors would prefer NOT to have the state employees assist them in any way. So, DHHS concerns bear no merit.
The State was unclear about why they didn’t want an audit. Actually their only response was politically defensive – they claimed they were concerned that the Democrats were putting on a show for the media. Democrat-Republican – who cares! Why not just do the independent audit and prove that it has no merit.
The State didn’t say they were at all concerned about cost so, what’s the harm in finding out exactly what damage has been done by the DHHS computer problem? Why not let an independent agency give an unbiased report about how long the problem has gone on? An independent audit would certainly be able to answer these questions. In order to know the extent of the problem and how to correct it, these questions need unbiased answers.
I seem to recall within the last few years an audit was done to part of DHHS and the results were that millions could be saved! The Democratic administration and the Democratic controlled legislature quietly shelved the recommendations. Part of the claim at time was there was “slack” in the Budget to allow for “problems” with accounting. Additionally common sense recommendations were ignored. Someone aught to dig up that old audit and beat the grand standing Democrats over the head with it. More than likely many of the recommendations are as valid today as they were back then.
Just out of curiosity, why is it that some of you people cannot wait to sling mud rather that talking about the actual issue at hand? The fact that there was some sort of computer glitch that may have paid out monies for people who were no longer eligible is a serious situation in any economy, nonetheless in the situation the state of Maine is in right at the moment. That is what should be being discussed, in my opinion. Think about the amount of money involved in paying fees for 19,000 people, with various medical conditions! And lets be honest here…there are people with “medical conditions” that are questionable.
Lets remember who was Governor when this program was installed and didnt work right to begin with. Can you say $30 millon wasted. (Hint he lives in Holden now)
Governor LePage has been in office for over a year, and Mary Mayhew has been in charge of DHHS for that long, too. If eligibility and payments didn’t match, Mayhew should have known just because she was in charge. That’s her job. That is what she is getting paid for. But I have a feeling that she has been more interested in carrying out the LePage agenda and that is wrecking her own department.
” If eligibility and payments didn’t match, Mayhew should have known just because she was in charge. That’s her job. That is what she is getting paid for.”
That is only true if you are looking for solutions and willing to admit that fraud
is not only problem.
The latter would be compromising in some people’s mind.
Again…what does who the governor was at the time have to do with the glitch in the system today? That is the point I was trying to make. Lets focus on the problem at hand. That is the fact that there was a glitch in the system. Computer glitches happen, that is why there should be an safeguard in place. Regardless of who was in charge at whatever point, this is a problem that needs to be taken care of. That is a massive amount of taxpayers dollars that was wasted. If a person was not eligible for coverage there was obviously a reason. Those people who had medical expenses paid, while knowing they had no coverage, should also be contacted and made to pay back the funds that were paid. They knowingly committed fraud. I am sure they were sent documentation regarding the fact that they were no longer eligible.
Could this be that the problem was never properly taken care of when the new system was installed?
We are focused on the governor and it’s his own fault.
I am fed up with the continuous assertions that the people who were no longer eligible for medical coverage had anything to do with bills being sent to Medicaid for payment with their knowledge. There has been no way to get these computer-fixed codes out of the system. It can take years before someone with even private insurance receives a bill, and they may no longer have that insurance by then, having to backtrack to see if expenses were rightly covered or not.
You’re “sure” everyone was sent documentation? Unfortunately, if they received anything, they were not sent permission to go into the blasted provider records and delete out the almost permanent errors about their coverage.
And I’ll say this again, too. Just how would you have people repay — what amount would they repay? The medicaid rate expense? The straight expense for someone with no insurance? Have you asked a provider how much something will cost and received a straight answer?
You don’t care about facts, and I’m sick and tired of people dumping on people as though they had thorough knowledge and control over this deep-seated, widespread problem.
Why don’t you go to all the providers and check their computer systems to see how they are set up; learn whether or not they “talk” to each other; ask how anything in the billing system gets changed and by whom. Go and do it. And be glad there are people you can feel better than and positioned far above them.
And y’all just keep on with that “liking” of idiocy.
In fact, what needs to be done is to dispense with computerized record-keeping completely, until such time, if there is ever such time, when there is, A) A decent application; and B) A legal prohibition against swapping applications at whim.
Think of all the jobs that would be available with hand and ledger, pencil and eraser, so to speak, and how many fewer mistakes there would be.
I have reread this post several times to be certain I had all of your information accurate prior to responding. Now, what I have to say I am sure you will have some sort of rebuttal to but I am going to say it anyhow. I do know about most of this things you mentioned above. First, I had my child when I was to young and not financially prepared to provide for a child. I started out on welfare. I worked my behind off, got a job and worked my way up to be in the position to provide for us on my own. When it came time for my eligibility to come to an end I received a letter from DHHS. As a RESPONSIBLE and HONEST adult I contacted my medical provider and made sure they knew my coverage ended. I also followed up at my next appointment, as well as contacting the billing office to be sure that they were certain to switch my insurance coverage over. Now, if your eligibility ended because you became a RESPONSIBLE adult and were able to provide for yourself and child/children without assistance any longer that is most likely because you had employment that 1) paid you above 200% of the federal poverty guideline 2) due to your income and employment you were likely offered insurance through your employer. If you lost your MaineCare for reasons other than the above, then likely you are not RESPONSIBLE or HONEST. State assistance is a HAND UP not a HAND OUT. The fact of the matter is it should take no more than a few years to get on your feet, unless you have multiple children. I was smart enough to know that having one child whom I was unable to provide for meant that I should not have more until I got to a place in my life where I could. Understandably there are people out there who sadly lose their partner or divorce, which means they certainly may have had to income to support the children prior to this. They are the exception, in my opinion. If you are on welfare with one child…DON’T have more until you can take care of them financially on your own!
Yes, there are providers who are dishonest or even lacking in responsible billing. I am not saying that in those situations people should be responsible to pay anything back. However, you know if you go to the doctors and do not receive an invoice there has been some problem. Doctors will ALWAYS send an invoice. If you do not have insurance they most often want payment at the time of service. So again, if they do not ask for payment you KNOW there is a problem. Hospitals & emergency transportation providers do take a while to send invoices, that is true. There is little that can be done about that, however, after several months go by one might think to themselves”hmmmm I never received an invoice from …. for that …..” and again a RESPONSIBLE & HONEST adult would make contact to find out what happened.
As far as it taking “private insurance companies” years to receive an invoice. Probably because I am extremely cautious about money I ALWAYS make notes and set reminders for myself to follow up on medical appointments to be sure that the invoice is taken care of and that I take care of my part of it. I realize people have busy lives and cannot always take care of all the little details, but I think that because I started on a very limited income I am always in budget mode.
What I believe should be paid back to the state is the money that the state paid out, no more and no less. Anything outside of the state budget is not my concern.
Once last thing, dispensing of computerized documentation and billing practices would be ridiculous. The cost of having people hand write and mail everything alone would harm our state budget even more than it already does. People would lose work because companies would be unable to pay for all the unneeded hours of senseless work. Also, having everything computerized is a great tool for both providers and insurance carriers (MaineCare included). Pencil, eraser & ledger are just as easy to make mistakes on as the computer.
Of course, all of this is JUST MY OPINION.
I believe everybody has a right to their own opinion, so I will no belittle you in the manner you did me. Have a nice evening.
You must have better luck with getting final numbers on invoices due than many other people. I’m putting the onus on the computer difficulties. ‘Dwneast’ has posted an articulate description of the problems.
Mine was definitely a reation to not only your comment, but the many who continue to contend that people know, or can even find out, or fix, these deeply buried computer problems. But I did not “belittle” you.
I did not say that people should hand-write and mail everything. I did say that a person working with ledger books made fewer mistakes. That ledger could be taken to someone else for review without it having to go through another computer application that might foul it up. How would this be “senseless work?” The cost of computerization is high, and, as ‘Dwneast’ has stated, endless.
It would not cost Maine to have people working at real jobs. There is probably a statistic somewhere that compares time lost with workers figuring out new computer applications, installation of new applications, etc., with manual effort, and the tremendous cost involved in the former.
Well, I suppose there certainly would be statistics as there typically are in any area you look. Whether it be for or against a issue. Statistics are easily fixed, sad but true. As far as the money it takes to train a person on a computer program, as a person who has graduated from Husson and continued my education since, I find it rather easy to learn computer programs. In today’s economic times it is a great idea to always stay up on the newest programs available in the area in which you work.
You are right though, it is costly to train all employees when you replace a program in your business. The problem I have with not having things computerized is that everybody cannot access all the information regarding medical things. They are working to have all medical records available to emergency rooms, specialists, etc. in all states. By all medical personnel being able to access this information so many lives can be saved, as well as much better medical care in emergency situations. If I went to an ER in Oregon and they pulled up my records they would immediately know the medications I am allergic to.
I also understand what you are saying about ledgers and written documentation. Yes, it would be fantastic if that were plausible. Realistically speaking it does not make sense anymore. Perhaps for small businesses, but I am sorry it doesn’t for large businesses or the government. I just plain disagree with you, it is senseless to have somebody hand write things when it takes way longer than it does to type it (of course this does depend on how fast you type). I truly believe that taking computers out of the equation would have serious economic effects on society. To hire somebody who types 80 – 90 wpm or hire somebody who would need MUCH longer than that to hand write that stuff would certainly increase payroll. Numerical data entry can be done even faster if you hire the right person.
DHHS clearly needs to do something about their computer program. The answer is not solved by going back to pencil & paper. It is solved by hiring a qualified computer programmer to find the problem and solve it. I also believe they should have some sort of back up program that checks the work in the background (that would not foul it up). In 2012 I am certain there must be something of this sort out there. It is all about the quality of the program you purchase and the IT people you hire. I believe in quality over quantity every time.
My comment about belittling me was in reference to “And y’all just keep on with that “liking” of idiocy.” That to me is belittling.
Again, this is only my opinion. You do not have to like it, nor do you have to agree with me. As I do not have to agree with you. This is suppose to be a comment section to have conversation about the article above. There are obviously going to be many opinions out there because no one person is the same. I am not trying to frustrate you, I a merely trying to show you my viewpoint.
I have removed my untoward comment. It was not directed at you. People seem to “like” anything that appears first. Sorry.
As for electronic medical records – another bane to quality care.
The problem with your scenario is that most providers with patients who have been on MaineCare check the automated eligibility line to see if there is coverage. Even though the patient tells them they no longer have it, the provider will bill to make sure. If the billing computer doesn’t pick up the closure, then the provider gets paid.
I also have private insurance and I never get a bill unless I have to pay a portion, so that is not a reliable way to know that you no longer have insurance. I have also had a few occasions when I got a notice of a late bill and when I contacted my insurance, found out the provider had never billed for the expense incurred 14 months earlier. It is not always the recipients fault.
I appreciate you raising your child with only short term assistance. You should be commended for that. The majority of people who receive TANF do the same since the average length of receipt is 18 months. I have to disagree with you on a lot of your other comments, but it’s getting late and I have to go to work tomorrow.
Have a good night.
Well, I think if you loomed at the average there may be some drastic numbers on either side that affect that number. I also was not only speaking of TANF but the entire welfare system. There are career welfare recipients out there. There are also people who use welfare in an appropriate manner. So averages are not typically accurate in most situations. Sent from my U.S. Cellular® Android phone
Well said!!!
You got the figure wrong
I believe it was 50 million plus
There has been a computer “glitch” for about a decade or longer. Unless Lepage has found a way to travel in time it is not his doing.
LePage and Mayhew lying about it can’t be blamed on anyone else.
“Just out of curiosity, why is it that some of you people cannot wait to sling mud rather that talking about the actual issue at hand?”
It is the way the 39 % got to power, and all many of them know.
Their paranoia can not ignored as a part of an honest answer, Mom.
But have you not heard them say “no compromise” ?
Believe it.
They mean it.
So what we have are the paranoid, who view reason as a personal affront to their blind faith
in political theories that are clearly failing, not compromising.
They are just proving that those who will not or can not compromise have no place at the table.
It is the final act in their misguided conservative revolution.
The curtain falls on it on the second Tuesday in November.
It the meantime the best we can do is grit our teeth and bear with it
as if it were a grammar school band concert, Mom.
LePage runs off at the mouth before he has all the facts. If he hasn’t hurt you personally yet, hold on cause he will. He going over to China and get schooled on how to pay a worker 33 cents an hour , do away with healthcare, and all other worker benefits. He’s a nut case.
Given the way he ran things at his last job, I actually wonder if he’s going over there to teach the Chinese how to run a sketchy business that pays next to nothing.
Interesting that the Republicans seem to be afraid of an independent investigation of DHHS. I think once the bureaucratic nut is cracked open to the light, the failures of the LePage leadership team will squirm out like so many disgusting little maggots.
Republicans are not afraid of an independent investigation. Republicans know the Left is lying and trying to distract from the fraud, corruption, and malfeasance.
By all means, let’s look at LePage’s year, and the last thirty after that. Forensic accounting. Department by department. I hope it can be accomplished before the next election.
Republicans ought to be afraid after the circus of debacles that LePage has brought to Augusta. Half of his cabinet has resigned already, Nutting is a welfare cheat, Poliquin is an ethical nightmare, and so on.
LePage has also managed to alienate the NAACP, all women who are concerned about BPA, the town of Millinocket, all of Aroostook county, all artists and mural-lovers, and so on, and so on!
Anyone defending this guy is so single-minded that their eyeballs must be screwed into place with superglue.
More jobs? Exposing the corruption, fraud, and malfeasance? Paying back a $450 million dollar debt to our hospitals incurred over 6 years while Legislators shuffled money to organizations of their personal interest?
The penguin runs off at the mouth …. and then just runs off !!!! YOW … Adrienne !!!
Did someone mention Brannigan? Investigation?
” http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2012/01/04/politics/235m-in-payments-to-lawmakers-private-organizations-allowed-by-loophole-in-disclosure-law/“
He has some nerve. Maybe that is what a hundred million dollars buys you.
Where was Mr.Brannigan when the Democrats were in charge?
Vacationing in Egypt on de Nile.
In Jamaica, on vacation I believe…..
Where was Brannigan? He was shuffling $98 MILLION dollars to the org he directed from DHHS.
He was Exec Dir. of Shalom House in Portland.
Is not this the same Sen. Brannigan who was included in a past article / report about “loopholes” allowing for millions of state $$ to be paid to organizations with certain political ties to lawmakers and/or their spouses?? And it disclosed that an organization received $98 million when Mr. Accountability was executive director…… Oh yes, it surely is and now Mr. Brannigan is concerned about Gov’t Accountability…..go figure…..
Are you forgetting the double standard??
Mary Mayhew is a very bright and competent woman who has an impossible job. Brannigan and Schneider know very well these issues have been years in the making.
So you and she should be the ones calling for full transparency, right ?
She is not, are you, really ?
Trying to find true DHHS transparency is like trying to understand their information technology system (predates Mary). The “map”is on The Maine Wire (it comes from the state). Suggest several Tylenol before viewing.
Senator Joseph Brannigan is a very honest and straight forward advocate of the people. He is wise in requesting this investigation. My suspicion is that the LePage isiders knew of this so called “computer glitch” long before January. But if it had been revealed, there would have been a need to fix it before the Lepage cuts in benefits were passed by the Legislators. It will all come out. The facts remain….the Lepage regime is nightmare for the poor and underserved in Maine. I believe that the facts about Lepage supported and promoted proposals are are skewed, and manipulated so he gets his own way. If he can’t get his way honestly, he finds another way or just changes the story line.
You and I have very different ideas about the definitions of ‘honest’ and straight forward’.
Brannigan (and Schneider) are lying. Flat out. They knew about the computer problems in 2006.
Brannigan shuffled $100 million dollars!, silently, to Shalom House (where he was the director) while at the same time allowing debts to out hospitals to burgeon over $450 million.
Then put them in jail with Webster and Summers!
You had best supply the proof of that here, otherwise Brannigan could rightly sue for libel.
“http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2012/01/04/politics/235m-in-payments-to-lawmakers-private-organizations-allowed-by-loophole-in-disclosure-law/”
I am not worried about Brannigan suing me.
Please supply varifiable links to your accusations unless you are merely deflecting from the subject of the prososed investigation.
All you have to do is click on the link. Unless you are afraid to?
What a novel idea for a Democrat to ask for an investigation of DHHS. Where were you brainiacs for the last 8 years. Git r done!
If dems are asking for an investigation, why would you be against that?
They would be investiagated too.
Read it again…this is a mess which has been ongoing… it took an election of a man who will rout this out and fix a mess the Democrats created andsat on the problem, of course they now want to appear to be helpful. Stick around we are going to find many messes from the past.
It’s about time. What took so long.
Apparently the law makers in question think if they can rile the water every body will not look into there dealings.if we investigate all the doings of the state treasuer,lawmakers funneling money to their companies and tree farm exemption there would not be enough time to deal with all the investigations,so we raise a few investigations into hot topics and the water muddies and they sail on thru unscathed to keep on doing what they do best.
That is a interesting point , pallett.
But let’s be perfectly clear, here.
Who is calling for a full investigation, and letting the chips fall where they may,
and who is fighting that, because they need the only problems to all be in the first forty
of the past forty one and half years ?
Well, so much for LePage’s promises of more transparency in the State Government, huh ?
Let’s take politics completely out of the discussion. Both the left and the right will agree on one thing when it comes to DHHS. IT IS BROKEN. It needs to be fixed. However the attempts in the past as well as the current attempt have not and will not get the job done. What is needed is a well thought out and properly implemented cure not band aids. Every State in The United States has a department similar to Maine’s DHHS, some work, some don’t. . It is time we examine those States in which their version of DHHS works and attempt to model ours along the same lines. It won’t be easy, it won’t be quick, but we have been trying to fix this problem for decades and have failed. If Paul Richard LePage is serious about fixing the problem rather then make political hay with it then he will assemble a team of experts from around the country and maybe even the world, study the problem and then come up with solutions to fix the problem. We are spending way too much money on this one department to let it continue to drift like a feather in the wind and to continue to be a political football.
LePage and Mayhew are fixing the problem. In spite of lying, games, and obstruction tactics from the Left. Obviously now it’s Schneider and Brannigan’s turn to offer some up.
LePage could be far more vocal about the mess of corruption, fraud, and malfeasance he and his administration are unearthing. He is smarter than that. He’s not being distracted by the desperate ignorance.
Informed voters will make decisions based on tangible results.
So much for taking politics out of it. Just keep on putting band aids on it.
Yeah, thats what we need, Financial advice from Europe. lets find a group of drunks off the street, we’d probably be better off.
Yes Larry I am sure you are right. In fact I think that what the State needs to do is hire you. You seem to have all the answers.
I don’t have all the answers, but am smart enough to know that I don’t.
We found them from the Florida streets, we are not better off.
“Let’s take politics completely out of the discussion. Both the left and the right will agree on one thing when it comes to DHHS. IT IS BROKEN.”
Its computers are, anyway, and who did not notice, or did she know and not tell the Budget Committee for political reasons ?
Who is afraid of the truth ?
“Covering up financial problems?” Sounds more like “uncovering” to me.
Once again, it was the D’s in control for almost 40 years, and whose refusal to present the current administration with the facts and figures after the November 2010 election(perhaps because of the expensive computer problem?)that has caused the brouhaha–perhaps an investigation up to the Inauguration of 2011 would be a great idea!
So you favor a full investigation like the Democratic Representative from Portland is calling for, then, right , 4lifeandfreedom ?
Actually, for the first time in four decades of Democrat control… YES we do!
Wow, Democrats are still unhappy about not being in power?
That is news.
We blame Bush, too, right ?
So You’ve seen the pattern too.
Don’t you mean Patterns with an “S”, given that “the past forty years” thingy ?
I guess we would use the plural since you did bring up a second pattern as well but they haven’t been blaming Bush for 40 years and to be honest before Obama I’ve never really seen a President so unwilling to take the blame for his failures yet so willing to claim credit for things he has had nothing to do with.
I sincerely hope the data and information needed for a review of the DHHS operation are not in LePage’ “shielded” working papers. Demagoguery knows no particular political affiliation and always ends up taking a bit out of the public arse, Republican or Democratic or Independent.
The tendency here is to place blame squarely on Maine DHHS, when all of this really started with the Federal government and HHS.
They are the ones who allowed themselves (and us) to get talked into streamlining payments and reimbursements with new ‘Information Technology’ in a move toward, among other things, eventual Health Care (Medicare/Medicaid) Reform. Private IT companies (and health reform consultants) have already made and continue making millions on government contracts for various and sundry administrative agency systems – and not all are just health care related.
In order for any state to receive the highest percentage of funding available for entitlements, it had to bite the bullet and spend quite a bit of its own money for a sophisticated new computer system(s) that can meet the latest federal guidelines. There are a few avilable. Since the Feds contribute 2/3 of the funding, they can push states around by calling the shots pretty much. Maine, which is a ‘poor state’, really didn’t have a choice. Not that any really do have a choice. It’s the new ‘Information Age’ we live in. It was intended to save money in the long run.
Trying to blame John Baldacci is not going to settle this for us, either. The company he extended existing contracts with, is the same one the Feds starting using back in the 90’s, as well – as I understand it.
HHS Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, is supposed to be sending a technical team to Maine to help out with our particular problems with two different systems including the old one being unable to interface with the new one. It’s the least they can do, in my opinion. I just hope they actualy do help and don’t make things worse for Mainers in need of assistance – which would delight LePage to no end, unless I miss my guess.
How’s that for ‘mud’ slung?
Who was the President in the ’90s? If I remember correctly it was Clinton .
If you are expecting an argument, I’m afraid you will be disappointed.
The IT company I am referring to had a hand in Clinton’s re-election campaign. Again, the object of the exercise was to streamline information, be more efficient, and save money.
I also feel compelled to add, here, that Clinton was one of the the better Presidents this country has ever had.
Too bad you felt compelled defend Clinton.
“I just hope they actualy do help and don’t make things worse for Mainers
in need of assistance – which would delight LePage to no end, unless I
miss my guess.” dwneast
What, besides abysmal ignorance, would compel you to make a statement like that?
I thought he refused Sebelius’ assistance when it was offered the weekend he went to Washington for dinner.
He did refuse it. Right up to the point where the Fed’s HHS told him that unless it was straightened out Maine was gonna’ lose it’s Federal HHS funding. Then Paulie got religion and couldn’t wait to get the Fed’s in here to keep the ‘feed train’ going. But now that the ‘feed’ is moving again isin’t it interesting that suddenly that Paulie and Nutting DON’T WANT THE FED’S ANYWHERE NEAR MAINE ? Now I may be labeled as not the sharpest knife in the kitchen but even I know that when someone doesn’t want you looking into something that affects the public’s health and welfare that there’s something that needs to be investigated and corrected. And the folk’s who don’t want you looking into it are usually the one’s benefiting from it the most. Now, benefiting from something that’s being hidden ? Gee, can I figure this one out by myself or is anyone else seeing this one ?
Apparently, he refused to meet with her while in Washington for the governors conference, because he didn’t have a budget (?), and hasn’t accepted her offer to have a team come to Maine
– yet.
http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/lepage-no-needfor-sebelius-meeting_2012-02-25.html
Sebelius said at the hearing, in response to a question by Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, that she gave LePage information about the types of changes the state is allowed to make immediately without federal permission, including the tighter eligibility for parents.
Sebelius also said she offered to send a team of federal officials to look at Maine’s other choices. The same offer has been made to other states.
Maine has not yet accepted that offer. LePage on Saturday called Sebelius’ offer a “sound bite,” but said that nonetheless he would “welcome a team to Maine.”
I cannot wait! I hope they uncover all of the problems and then Lepage can shut it down and start over!
Do we think that all of the hacks left over from decades of Democrat control were less than forthcoming in their disclosures to hurt the new admin. No different to the Clinton WH transition team intentionally undermining Bush’s team.
What a joke as each department goes down in mismanagement while the Democrats blame Lepage for it all. You couldn’t write a better comedy.
Well, the LePage Administration does remind me of “Ducksoup”, too.
I agree, DHHS needs an audit but lets put it back to the old drivers. Gov. Lepage is cleaning the system in which the Democratic leadership created the mess. Easy out for the Dems. Blame it on the new Governor, how SHAMEFUL.
We haven’t seen the results of the audit. There may be plenty of blame to go around. It isn’t the old drivers who are blocking it, is it. There may be some flame under this smoke. Let’s look. I’m sure we have plenty of cells available for both parties.
Mayhew and LePage: Should have, could have, ought to have………….an audit is entirely appropriate. Why should a health care provider wait a year to get paid?, and when they question this, WHY can’t the questions be answered by DHHS? There’s absolutely no reason why a provider should be remanded to seek answers from a state senator. This is exactly what we have known from the start, She’s NOT doing a good job at all.
You need to educate yourself on the facts. Providers waited for more than a year under the previous administration, and hospital debts soared to $450 million from 2006.
LePage has already paid more than half of that off in a less than a year’s time.
LePage has not paid more than half of the debts……..there were no state senators contacted asking for payment, their was not a 220 million dollar budget shortfall, nor were there any computer problems in any previous administrations. Don”t you think it’s remarkable how all of these happened in one year?……….And where’s our Governor……right now? Not in Augusta.
And the Commissioner says ……she should have told them earlier….? Well, let’s find out WHEN she did know about the computer problems, let’s find out WHY they made the Appropriations Committee enact legislation blindly…..and let’s find out HOW it can be fixed. LePage has not paid off more than half, if that were the case, a state senator wouldn’t have been contacted due to misinformation and nonconformance by DHHS………..no. Try again.
When a house gets infested with educated idiots that feel entitled to take whats not rightfully theres , and fail to be competent enough to do the job they were hired for you tear it completely down and rebuild from the ground up !
What harm can the audit do, and it may do a lot of good. Heck, it might even give us a reason to put Dale in jail!
Joe ought to know whats wrong with DHHS.
He helped create the mess.
Brannigan stalled until the deadline passed. He’ll take the headlines, but the VERY LAST thing he wants is a comprehensive audit of DHHS. He knows the computer system problems at DHHS were created by Brenda Harvey, et al, on purpose so nobody could trace things like the $98-million that went to his Shalom House. This is like a bank robber who flees to the woods, jumps in a brook, and wades upstream two miles to confound the tracking dogs.
Damn straight he knows.
What do they know and when did they know it? It is always the cover up that gets you.
Computer snafu? That was an excuse from the 70s. Mayhew will resign in the near future with a nice package like the rest of these flunkies who have been routed out one by one.
Brannigan needs to file his request with the Maine Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability, (OPEGA) regardless of anything. If he bringst this up, but pronounces it “futile,” then it’s all bull. Here’s the blasted link with the filing information to make it easier:
http://www.maine.gov/legis/opega/
But the problem is not that an outside audit is needed.
But he doesn’t really want to do that, does he? Not really.
they look for the problem in dhs the answer is very simple get th emliion illegals off the systems problems solve,, there is so much waste in this country now they trying to shift the blame on the poor the less fortunate,, real shame
they look for the problem in dhs the answer is very simple get th emliion illegals off the systems problems solve,, there is so much waste in this country now they trying to shift the blame on the poor the less fortunate,, real shame
CLOSE DHHS all together!! Problem solved! Nothing but a taxpayer dollar funded joke anyway..
And we could use all the money saved to build a highway to nowhere in Maine ?
this is great every body blames the other person in augusta for the problems in DHHS if we go back to see the computer program when it was installed why wasnt it tried to see if it was working or did the shady company just collect and run or maybe no one checked to see if it was working.if our lawmakers would all work toward a solution instead of against each other maybe the wheels wouldnt spin so much.brannigan does not want the investigation of DHHS that is why he waited so long and if the OPEGA is so busy does that mean they are investigating other depts. or just checking vacation schedules,i think the next election the people should look long and hard at the canidates for what they did not how much money they spent to get elected
Are you really saying that the states computers and departments are not audited by outisde auditors? That’s like letting the inmates run the asylum.
Oh, YES! OPEGA asked to do an investigation on DHHS, just like the big one done at the Maine State Prison, Oh yeah, nothing ever came from that investigation, sorry I was so happy to see the state investigate the state, my mistake!
49 other States have DHHS. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say I bet one of them knows how to do this right. So we either have a totally outdated computer system or a lot of incompetent people “at all level’s” working for the DHHS.
Tricky Democrats call for investigation. Republicans not fooled, refuse to investigate. Some real logic there.
While the MTA and MSHA were abusing taxpayer dollars, where were the Democratic calls for an independent investigation of these corrupt agencies? The Democrats left these two agencies unchecked and even encouraged years of corruption. Joe Brannigan should not be calling the kettle black. Perhaps a quick look in the mirror will reveal to Joe where the real corruption lies.
What ” corruption” occurred at MSHA – none.
The GOP fools no one.yessah
Harassment yes, corruption no.
“House Speaker Robert Nutting, R-Oakland, called Brannigan’s move “a well orchestrated media event aimed at fanning partisan flames.”
WQell, sure the GOP doesn’t want anyone nosing around. Just like Mr. Nutting don’t want to hear about his additional money gained.
Maybe with a bit of nosing, more bad payments could be uncovered!
Nutting wouldn’t know an error in book keeping unless it was well over a million dollars of medicare money………………….Oh! That’s right, maybe he would recognize a problem.
Taxpayers demand accountability from the LePage Regime.
Whats good for the MSHA is good for the DHHS.
yessah
Oh, YES! OPEGA asked to do an investigation on DHHS, just like the big one done at the Maine State Prison, Oh yeah, nothing ever came from that investigation, sorry I was so happy to see the state investigate the state, my mistake!
I bet paul cant get back soon enough to burn his notes.
DHHS has been a persistent problem — remember when they didn’t pay bills, several administrations back? “Providers” like OHI nearly crashed.
This isn’t a Republican problem, it isn’t a Democratic problem — it is a systemic problem in DHHS and the GOP lawmakers should applaud an investigation.
The investigation will reveal, after paying for the investigation, that it will cost more to fix the problem, than to just continue to pay for the problem as it is. Either way the taxpayer is screwed……….oh unless of course we get rid of welfare to the able bodied.
The LePage Administation doesn’t want an audit ? Go figure ! What a surprise !
Thank goodness Charlie webster and Charlie Summers don’t do media stunts.
If I were running a government, I would want each department audited as often as I could, including my own. You know, my daughter, and my son-in-law, and my cronies may not be as careful with the people’s money as I am.
The people who reported the numbers were good and then admitted they knew for 2 months that they were not are in charge of the current “independen” audit. That makes no sense. Someone reliable needs to figure out the exent of the impact to the current budget – who is on MaineCare, who is not, how much must be paid back to the feds because of the mistake. Then the audit needs to look at how the computer system go so screwed up. Finally, there should be a criminal investigation to determine if lying or misleading or covering up from the Legislature involved a crime. How can either party in the Legislature believe they can serve the people of Maine if departments mislead them to get legislation passed.
It’s time for Landslide LePage to go. What is the recall process?
Here’s a list of the reports OPEGA issued on DHHS during the Baladacci administration. Why are Repubclan leaders afraid to schedule even ONE OPEGA audit of DHHHS now? They never opposed them in the past. What are they hiding?
http://www.maine.gov/legis/opega/reports/TitleIV-E_Adoption/Adopt%20Final%20Report.pdf
http://www.maine.gov/legis/opega/reports/MECMS/MECMS%20InterimPresentation.pdf
http://www.maine.gov/legis/opega/reports/MECMS/MECMS%20Final%20Report.pdf
http://www.maine.gov/legis/opega/reports/Riverview%20Bed%20Capacity/Final%20Report%20-%20RPC%20Requests%20for%20Admissions%20-%208-30-07.pdf
http://www.maine.gov/legis/opega/reports/Riverview%20Bed%20Capacity/Riverview%20Final%20Report.pdf
http://www.maine.gov/legis/opega/reports/Riverview%20Bed%20Capacity/Final%20Report%20-%20RPC%20Requests%20for%20Admissions%20-%208-30-07.pdf
http://www.maine.gov/legis/opega/reports/DHHS_Contracting/Final_Report_DHHS_Contracting.pdf
http://www.maine.gov/legis/opega/GOC/GOC_meetings/Current_handouts/2-27-09/2-26%20Info%20Brief%20FFAHM-Tab%202%20.pdf
http://www.maine.gov/legis/opega/GOC/GOC_meetings/Current_handouts/2-27-09/Final%20Report%20for%20Printing%20-%20Amended%20for%20KidsPeace.pdf
http://www.maine.gov/legis/opega/reports/DME/DME%20Final%20Report.pdf
http://www.maine.gov/legis/opega/reports/FFHM/FFHM%20Report.pdf
http://www.maine.gov/legis/opega/reports/Final%20Information%20Brief%20on%20CON%20-%205-12-11.pdf
http://www.maine.gov/legis/opega/reports/legislative%20oversight%20guides/Legislative%20Guide%20-%20Oversee%20Adult%20Mental%20Health.pdf
http://www.maine.gov/legis/opega/reports/legislative%20oversight%20guides/Legislative%20Guide%20for%20MECMS.pdf
Do you think an independent investigation into DHHS is needed?
Yes 69.68% (108 votes)
No 30.32% (47 votes)
Looks familiar… 61 % t0 39 % less about 9 % of the honest people, who always vote the GOP straight ticket.
Something is rotten in the state of ….. Maine? The LePage administration is not trustworthy.
We need to audit the Blaine house while we’re at it…..
And once again we see just where the problem’s with DHHS are. The GOP cries ‘cut spending’ at DHHS but refuses to find out where it needs to be done. Brannigan’s request for an independent audit is the smartest idea to come out of Augusta since whipped cream found bluberries. That Nutting has decided that playing an ostrich with his head in sand is both predictable and, in the long term view, both inevitable and politically fatal. An outside audit would specifically determine those area’s that can be cut and point out any number of ideas and methods that the DHHS can use to improve itself. That’s the value of an outside audit, no politics, no ego’s, no personal agenda’s. That Nutting is doing the exact opposite show’s everybody, and especially you Tea Party folks who are constantly whining and crying about gov’t spending, exactly who in the GOP is determined to be a huge roadblock in what is, Statewide, a call for reform. This is where LePage, and The Office of The Governor, is supposed to step in. How about it Paulie ? You gonna’ step in and do what’s needed or are you gonna run and hide in Blaine House ? This is where leadership’s rubber is suppossed to meet the road but all I’m seeing is spinning tires and a lot of smoke. And if I can see it up here in The County you can be dammed sure that the rest of the State can see it. So can any number of Independent’s and Democrat’s.