Should UnitedHealth and Wellcare have the right to call for investigations by CPS or APS?

According to an employee of the Hawaii Department of Human Services, the two for-profit insurance companies running the state's Medicaid program are now able to call in complaints directly to Child Protective Services (CPS) and Adult Protective Services (APS).

Calls are coming in to DHS, according to the employee, with complaints that UnitedHealth and Wellcare are using the threat of calling CPS or APS to intimidate families into decreasing their requests for home services.

According to my source, the general threat is that if the person receiving care needs as many hours as the family is requesting, then it is not safe for them to be in their homes.

It's now no longer a threat to institutionalize their child, but a threat to take them away forever.

CDREA publishes 11th Anniversary webzine on the failure of the Olmstead Decision

A year ago, both the President and DHHS made a big public hoopla about the June 22, 2009 tenth anniversary of the Olmstead Decision.  That was the Supreme Court ruling that gave people with disabilities a civil right to not be institutionalized.

This year there is a small article on the government's Disability Blog.  Considering that at least twenty-two states have come under some sort of regulatory attack for violating the civil rights protected by Olmstead, it may not be too surprising.

The Children's Disability Rights Education Association has published a three page webzine on the failure of the Olmstead Decision.  We have had some success advocating here in Hawaii and legal documents are linked.

The point was also to put a face on the people who are actually being targeted for state Medicaid budget cuts across the state.

There are three sections:
The Failure of Olmstead
The Victims when Olmstead Fails
Successful Advocacy in Hawaii

Hawaii's Medicaid Death List Weighted Towards Native Hawaiians

Sources tell me that the infamous "death list" of Medicaid-care related fatalities is "more than fifty percent Native Hawaiian."

There are approximately 25 names on the list.  These are individuals with disabilities and special health care needs that require home health care from Medicaid to keep from being institutionalized. 

Reportedly the list is under investigation by the FBI and several of the families have confirmed they were interviewed. 

The death rate among this group rose 36% in the first year after Medicaid care was turned over to two for-profit health insurance companies, UnitedHealth and Wellcare.

Washington Post reports increased activity by DOJ Civil Rights Division

An article in the June 4, 2010 Washington Post reported on the vast change that has occurred in the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.

While mention is made of several different avenues that DOJ is currently investigating, the story omitted mention of the five states where DOJ has actively intervened on behalf of people with disabilities since December.

The following is the comment I posted in response to The Post's article:

disabilitymom wrote:
The disability community has seen a significant increase in the Division's attention to ADA issues. DOJ has intervened directly in five states since December on behalf of people with disabilities whose Medicaid home services are being cut below the level of medical necessity.

OCR at DHHS has opened two investigations in Hawaii into whether cuts in Medicaid home services violated the civil rights of two little girls (one of them mine).

The Division's Criminal Investigation unit has been looking into deaths from lack of care by Hawaii Medicaid providers UnitedHealth and Wellcare. Hawaii has seen a 36% increase in deaths among the elderly and disabled tied to lack of care issues in the first year since they entered this market.

This story links to the attention being paid to the fact that states are cutting Medicaid budgets to the disabled community because that's where they get the biggest bang for their buck.

One of the holdovers from the Bush era has been the privatization of Medicaid. Social and medical services that enable disabled children, adults and elderly to live with their families instead of in institutions are being put in the corporate hands of insurance companies like UnitedHealth, WellPoint, and Wellcare.

UnitedHealth and Wellcare together are taking home about $15 million a month from the Hawaii Medicaid program. Sixty-seven percent of that is federal money.

Nobody would ever propose putting Wall Street bankers in charge of our schools; why would anybody put disability services into the hands of companies that treat billions of dollars in fines as a cost of doing business?
6/5/2010 3:35:05 PM

Taped State Senate testimony reveals 36% increase in Medicaid-care related deaths

On March 16, sworn testimony presented at a Hawaii legislative informational hearing stated the death rate among the state's disability community had risen 36% in the year following privatization of the state's Medicaid services to the disabled and elderly. 

Larry Geller of Disappeared News attended the hearing and posted a videotape on his blog two days later.  There was never any response from the state regarding the startling news.

The sworn testimony is being given by Dr. Tina McLaughlin, Chief Executive Officer of CARE Hawaii.  The hearing is being held by State Senators Suzanne Chun Oakland, chair of the senate DHS committee, and David Ige, chair of the senate health committee.  The comments about the increased death rate come at about 5:40 on the video.