* From the Cook County Public Guardian…
February 3, 2020
VIA EMAIL
Theresa Eagleson, Director
Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services
Marc Smith, Director
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services
Re: MCO Train Wreck
Dear Directors Eagleson and Smith:
My staff spent the day dealing with a deluge of inquiries and problems due to Illinois’ decision to precipitously dump 19,000 children into the MCO plan on Saturday despite knowing perfectly well what a train wreck it is. A few of the issues include:
• An MCO insisting to two different sets of adoptive parents that the plan’s “member” is the child (the child of one family is 9 and the child of the other child is 2) and that the MCO can only deal directly with the member unless the member signs a power of attorney. The MCO offered to mail form powers of attorneys to the “members” to sign so that the adoptive parents could access medical care for their young children.
• A 14-year-old adopted girl needed seizure medicine and her pharmacy wouldn’t take her card and couldn’t tell her adoptive parents where to go or what to do.
• The two adopted children of a woman got sick over the weekend and she has been trying to take them to a doctor today but no one is taking her card and she’s been getting the runaround.
• Adoptive parents trying to buy feeding tubes and other critical medical supplies for their adopted children.
These are just a sampling of the calls we have received today. I don’t want to be dramatic, but Illinois is going to end up with a dead child over the decision to prematurely dump all of these children in the MCO plan before all of these problems have been worked out. I implore that former youth in care be extended until April, as Illinois has already done for current youth in care.
Sincerely,
Charles P. Golbert
Public Guardian
- NIU Grad - Monday, Feb 3, 20 @ 4:41 pm:
I hope there has been genuine outreach behind-the-scenes on this, and that’s why there hasn’t been a responding comment from the Pritzker team.
- Cubs in '16 - Monday, Feb 3, 20 @ 4:50 pm:
===Illinois is going to end up with a dead child===
Given the examples listed already, and we’re just three days into this, I don’t think Mr. Golbert is being dramatic at all. Pragmatic if anything.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Feb 3, 20 @ 4:54 pm:
The governor (the crew) better work more closely with what going on and with the public guardian too, because of this email says anything to me, it says that there is a sincere lacking of knowledge and the impact and folks are not being heard.
Folks… are NOT being heard.
That should send alarm bells ringing.
- Not The Onion... - Monday, Feb 3, 20 @ 4:58 pm:
The 2 year old being asked to sign a power of attorney sounds like an Onion article.
- Farm Boy - Monday, Feb 3, 20 @ 7:39 pm:
I’m sorry but what is this MCO plan that he speaks of?
- thoughts matter - Monday, Feb 3, 20 @ 8:00 pm:
This is not acceptable. I think our state reps and senators need to start making calls and getting this fixed. There should be nothing more important than children’s lives.
- Pharmacist who knows - Monday, Feb 3, 20 @ 8:40 pm:
The State does not care. They have wanted to wash their hands of the Medicaid problem ever since they started the first transition of recipients to MCO’s 5 years ago.
- Leslie K - Monday, Feb 3, 20 @ 11:46 pm:
This is horrifying. And the statement about getting power of attorney is also offensive (in addition to being absurd), perpetuating the idea that if you adopted your children you somehow aren’t “real” parents. Calling Pritzker–please don’t Rauner this.
- dbk - Tuesday, Feb 4, 20 @ 3:51 am:
I would expect the Public Guardian is making a list of all such cases for further reference.
Document, document, document.
No response from the administration? Uh-oh.
- 100 miles west - Tuesday, Feb 4, 20 @ 7:26 am:
this is all about monetizing poverty for the benefit of insurance providers and their shareholders. It is not about providing care.
- Perrid - Tuesday, Feb 4, 20 @ 8:46 am:
I get the responsibility ends with the state here, and all that, but I want the heads of these providers on a pike, myself. Managed care has been statewide for almost 2 years now, except for the YouthCare contract; doctors turning away their patients over this “confusion” is frankly inexcusable.
- fedup - Tuesday, Feb 4, 20 @ 9:30 am:
Anecdotally, the only ones I’ve known who like managed care are those who don’t frequently utilize health care services. The added bureaucracy between the patient and the care provider impedes access, as Mr. Golbert has observed. It’s the last thing vulnerable children and their parents need. Hopefully, JB is paying attention.
- Informed Mom - Tuesday, Feb 4, 20 @ 10:11 am:
I live in fear of MCO involvement in the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, because that’s coming around the bend. People over profit.
- Sweet Mama - Tuesday, Feb 4, 20 @ 3:46 pm:
Unless providers are willing to lose a lot of money, kids will be hurt. The implementation of the MCO’s has been disastrous in the Community Care Program but the harm was limited, as far as I know, to the companies providing care. We stood between seniors and harm and many senior care companies closed due to the combined harm of the MCO roll out and the budget impasse. I am now hearing, though, that seniors enrolled in MCO’s who are not seeing traditional case managers but MCO case managers instead, are losing their Medicaid benefits and housing as they aren’t being reminded and assisted with yearly Medicaid applications. This all needs to slow down, be studied, and implemented carefully. There are lives at risk.