It depends on the meaning of “working poor”
I’ve noted before that liberals see the federal S-CHIP health insurance plan as a Trojan Horse for government-run entitlement programs. I was called a “bitch” for questioning the wisdom of allowing families with middle-class assets including two properties and three cars to be covered by a federal program intended to help the working poor.
Now, here’s a report on a new audit of New Jersey’s S-CHIP program, called FamilyCare, that highlights how wealthy families are getting onto the rolls and staying there–because no one’s checking their eligibility:
People earning as much as $295,000 are enrolled in a state health care program designed for New Jersey’s poor, according to a new audit that found the state failing to check eligibility for all program enrollees.
NJ FamilyCare is meant to help working poor parents and children.
But the state auditor found vendors aren’t performing eligibility checks and the state isn’t checking applications for unreported income.
The state also failed to try to collect $4.6 million owed to the program by 16,300 people who were disenrolled, the audit found.
The findings come with the state struggling to pay for health care for the poor and uninsured.
The problems, the audit found, has allowed at least three people with self-employment incomes of $295,000, $186,000 and $177,700 to enroll in the program.
The program is supposed to serve, for example, parents in a family of four making up to about $28,000 per year.
The state is spending $535 million per year on NJ FamilyCare, which provides services such as immunizations, hospitalization, lab tests, X-rays, prescription drugs and dental and mental health services.
About 122,500 children and 89,000 adults are enrolled. Depending on income, some pay no copayments, while others pay fees much cheaper than private insurance.
The audit found:
– About 13,000 participants weren’t sent renewal applications as of September, though regulations require eligibility be determined annually. The audit found $43.1 million was paid to these participants from July 2005 to September without knowing if they remain eligible.
– Some beneficiaries failed to report all income on FamilyCare applications, including income earned through self-employment, rentals, interest and dividends. Applicants authorize the program to match applications with their tax return, but the state isn’t checking all tax files.
– Auditors found nearly 7,000 cases where the applicant reported $10,000 or more in self-employment income on their 2006 tax return, including those who failed to report self-employment incomes of $295,000, $186,000 and $177,700 on their NJ FamilyCare applications.
Your takeaway quote is in bold at the end of this section in the AP’s write-up:
The state failed to try to collect $4.6 million owed to NJ FamilyCare by 16,300 people.
, The state paid $2.1 million from July 2005 to December for medical equipment that should have been paid for by nursing facilities.
, The state is failing to monitor medical equipment providers. For example, it found a provider billed the Medicaid program $30,000 for 48,000 adult incontinence briefs, though the audit found only 10,000 briefs were purchased. Auditors said they’ve referred this and other examples to state criminal investigators.
, The state isn’t properly calculating Medicaid reimbursements. For instance, auditors found the state paid $8,181 for a wheelchair that should have cost $5,705.
, The state spent $6.7 million in state and federal money more than was needed to rent oxygen equipment and buy adult incontinence briefs.
, The state, from July 2005 to December, sent as many as three blood pressure monitors to Medicaid patients, even though many come with warranties and are replaced for free by drug store chains. The audit found the state could have saved $100,000 by denying these claims.
“The audit’s findings are very troubling,” said Assemblyman Richard Merkt, R-Morris. “They call into serious question the state’s competence to run health insurance programs.”
Tip of the iceberg.
See what others have said
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Categories: Graeme Frost, Health care
David Frum
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This is what you get with GOVERNMENT programs. If these were private programs, believe me, they’d be audited constantly. Yes, profit-driven (for all you liberals who hate profits and companies and people who actually make money), but then again, people wouldn’t be able to game the system.
Your government dollars (and workers) at work.
And they want universal healthcare.
Wonderful.
Oh you are going to love this one MM. . .
Medicare to be broke in 2019.
And with all the talk of dating conservative bloggers, you are still my favorite married conservative. I’m still hoping for the miracle to get with the ‘Luce Lady’ at some point. Thanks for all you do.
The government is not competent to run anything other than the military and courts.
Competence, what a concept. Unfortunately far too many people in government view themselves as morally transcendent (i.e. annoited to distribute the goodies for votes) and that competence is for the lowly of the country (i.e. cursed to pay the bills and collect higher taxes in return). This moral inversion is having a devastating impact on the lives of ordinary Americans. Government is now so enormous the normal constraints of the republic have collapsed before it. The result? As Rand said, no one should need as much luck as this country does. Which is another way of saying we’re SOL.
i lament everyday i live here. i can not wait until Ft Monmouth gets brac’d so we can get the heck out of this communist hellhole.
NJ is broke. not poor…broke. our gov. is trying to convince tax payers that we’re not paying enough taxes - though we’re the most taxed state in the union. and seemingly NO ONE in Trenton can connect the dots - highest taxed states = worst budget problems.
everytime i round a jug handle, my fingers twitch with anger.
everytime i see FL plates i seethe.
everytime i see a new fee, i become enraged.
i do everything i can to avoid paying this hell anymore money than i need to - including shopping on Amazon as much as i can, taking trips to DE for big ticket items, and crossing into PA @ 195 to avoid paying NJ the exit fee from 295/95 DMB.
i’m sick of having to get my car realigned because the streets are so bad.
i’m tired of gripping my steering wheel with white knuckles during rain storms because the tire ruts in the road collect water and send you careening across the lane.
i. hate. this. state.
/rant
Michelle- no comment on the federal government trying to gain even MORE power over the economy by “restructuring” the fed?
Isn’t it amazing that the state is run by an ex-Goldman Sachs dude?
You would think…
good old blue state….
And to think that the Dhimmicrats believe that the Federal government can do a better job than the private sector in providing health insurance. This should be exhibit A that government of any type… city, state, or federal should stay the heck out of the insurance business.
Jim C
This is just one state. Do you think that if Hillarycare or Obamacare get implemented that the other 49 states will fare any better?
Be afraid….be very afraid.
And shame of these folks. Fraud such as that makes you want to bring back the stocks and public humiliation.
New Jersey, the land of petrochemical plants, toxic waste dumps, Mafia scum and liberal politics. Oh what a delightful cesspool!Am I surprised about the middle class corruption….nope.
Another government program, all screwed up. And, people want this for their healthcare? I keep track of the socialist healthcare in Europe, Canada and Australia regularly; what a mess. No wonder people go elsewhere for treatments. So, a family struggling on a budget, now has to make room to make sure that a family earning $250K has health insurance. Doesn’t surprise me anymore. Anything for power over the masses, right Demosocialists? It is interesting that medicare is “going broke” when the money goes into the general fund, to be spent as Congress sees it. There isn’t a lockbox somewhere in the treasury…another Clinton story.
Tip of the iceburg, indeed!
Tennessee Dave - The government exists for the good of ALL of the people. Not to play Robin Hood. A government program available to one should be available to all. No discrimination, no favorites, no way. All equal in the eyes of the law.
Government programs which try to help one group at the expense of another are immoral and go against the founding ideals of this nation.
The more government tries to run, the more screwed up it gets.
The Socialist Healthcare System, touted by Hillary, Obama, and many of the women I know, will require a new department all its own - think of Homeland Security, Social Security, U.S. Postal Security, etc.
I rest my case.
Criminal fraud like this runs rampant in most government agencies. I am glad DOD has some pretty good internal management controls to keep fraud under control not to say we don’t have a case that sneaks by every now and then. The only good thing is when we find a case of fraud DOD has a really good track record of prosecuting their employees. I wish we could do the same with contractors. It really is time to start trimming the fat in government by shutting down certain agencies and putting many others on severe funding diets.
NJ needs a Bobby Jindal.
I live in NJ and this very article just amazes me why these politicians in NJ keep getting voted in, lautenber 84 is running again and the morons in NJ will vote him in office.
Why, because these fraudulent programs exist why give up the candy when you have a sweet tooth!
I have a neighbor who complains because he has to pay $40 a paycheck for his health plan. He believes that the government should provide it, at no cost. No amount of discussion will convince him that there is no such thing as a free lunch. He refuses to believe that he might not collect social security. The stories about waiting 4-8 months for an MRI in Canada are just rumors. This report would be some Republican propaganda, as far as he’s concerned.
What scares me is that there are so many people like him. We’re screwed.
EXACTLY!!! Ding, ding, ding!!! Did any of you notice the new “polling/survey” of doctors about health care and how many actually support “universal health insurance?” I couldn’t believe that. We either have some very naive doctors out there, these doctors want a new sugar daddy, or they really believe that the guvment won’t stiff them or make their jobs HARDER.
It really makes you wonder why we can’t apply common sense reforms to health care without adding another tier of federal government dependence.
Let the government take over and everything will be alright. The only ones that have to worry are the taxpayers. It is not like they are anyone who matters.
[Spits in disgust]
I couldn’t agree more. I have two liberal sisters-in-law who live in NJ and they seem to find it to be a “paradise” (as long as they don’t venture into hell holes like Trenton). They’re the type who say that taxes are for “the children” but where does the money that NJ claim it’s collecting for tolls, property taxes, and income taxes really go? Why can’t they do math when they’re in the red?
I’m originally from Upstate New York and the taxes are something awful in that state as well. I think we rank in the top tier of states that pay the most in taxes. My parents, who no longer have children in school, have to still pay taxes for a dysfunctional school district which won’t do anything about gang activity and believe more about teaching about “acceptance” and “sexuality” then in anything that will help our kids to be functioning, responsible adults. Then there are the tolls, the income tax, the driver’s fees, all the little ways that states are more and more taking money away from you and me. This is why I no longer live in New York.
I’ve go no better luck in Virginia where I currently live. Property taxes are outrageous (that’s why my husband and I rent), driver’s fees have gone up (oh, don’t you know to pay for the roads) and the obnoxious “personal property tax” that VA extorts from its citizens every year for the “privilege” of driving a vehicle. I’ve lived in many states (since my husband is in the military) and this is the first time I’ve run across such an onerous tax.
What is the most galling thing about high taxes in states like NJ is that there is no transparency, citizens aren’t given a justification for hikes in the taxes, and there’s no recourse or redress. What’s even more interesting is that many citizens of states like NJ and NY know that things are going to hell but they’re not willing to do a damn thing about it.
I grew up in New Brunswick, NJ but haven’t lived there for 20 years. What I mean is that 20 years ago the state was a cesspool of corruption, socialism, Democrats (and other evil people) running rampant.
First, I never understood why so many people from India want to go to college at Rutgers University, ‘cuz all around new Brunswick and Piscataway it was very hard to find anyone who spoke english. Then of course the monuments to liberal and Democrat leadership such as Newark, Jersey City, Union City, Patterson, Camden and Trenton. The whole place is almost as utterly useless and desirable as California is.
So, here’s the problem they have up there: The people who have enough money move out. The wealthy stay because they game the system for more wealth. The poor stay because they lack the resources to leave AND because they receive more in public handouts than they would anywhere else.
I say it’s time to get rid of some of these places that are beyond reclamation. I am willing to cede New England, the Middle Atlantic, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington State, Washington D.C. and Louisiana to become an independent country so I stop having to pay taxes that help support all their nonsense. We could call it the Democrat Liberal Fascist States of America.
I JUST WANT TO BE FREE!!!