Illinois’ children’s health insurance program spent thousands of dollars on people who were not eligible and didn’t investigate why children received multiple pairs of eyeglasses in a year, the latest audit of the program shows. In addition, the All Kids program is not eligible for federal reimbursement, costing the state $85.7 million, an increase of $11.3 million from the previous year.
“This program has a history of wasting taxpayer dollars, and so I wouldn’t be shocked if there are problems,” said critic, State Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon. The audit, released Wednesday, focused on the expanded All Kids program, which is the non-Medicaid part of All Kids. It allows parents who do not qualify for Medicaid to obtain lower-premium health insurance for their children.
Among the audit’s findings:
A total of 414 people received medical services at a cost of more than $126,000 after their 19th birthday, when they were no longer eligible for coverage.
A total of 315 people appeared to be enrolled with more than one identification number.
All Kids incorrectly categorized 11,130 recipients as “undocumented,” even though they had Social Security numbers on file. That resulted in the program not submitting or receiving federal matching funds for those individuals. The audit noted this is a repeated problem.
Optical providers billed for multiple eyeglass frames and fittings for the same recipient during the year. One provider billed 180 frames and 186 fittings for 41 recipients. The audited noted that this, too, is a repeated problem.
“What’s so disappointing to me and my colleagues and the people who pay the bills in this state is that you have the audit findings and then you have another audit that says the same thing and then another audit that says the same thing," said Righter. “At some point, the problems need to be fixed."
You can read Jayette's full report at: http://watchdog.org/59169/il-audit-lawmaker-say-improvements-needed-to-all-kids-program/
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