Arizona Adopts Michigan Child Medicaid Revenue Maximizing Fraud Schemes

Here is a terse op-ed by Barbara A. O'Brien commenting on Arizona's Child Protective Services Governor Task Force.

From what I have gathered, Arizona has done absolutely nothing in the areas of Continuous Quality Improvement for almost 6 years.

Couple that with the fact that the state is expending billions to snatch children of undocumented immigrants to shove them in foster care instead of promoting family, you have just found the underlying reason why Arizona has created a CPS task force.

So what other reasons exist for Arizona to revamp its Child Protective Services at this particular time?  I found the reason here, as stated by Cindy Mann:

Under Brewer's plan, parents earning between 75 percent and 100 percent of the federal poverty level would have remained on AHCCCS, but no new parents would be eligible and those who fell off the rolls for any reason could not get back on.

AHCCCS estimated that about 30,000 people, or half of the 60,000 parents in that category, would lose benefits in the first year, for savings of $17 million.

Mann said U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius did not believe eliminating coverage for low-income parents furthered the Medicaid mission.

Sebelius and the CMS also denied a plan to require AHCCCS members to re-enroll every six months, instead of annually. The proposal would have saved an estimated $15 million, primarily because people would fail to sign up in time or become ineligible.

Cindy Mann, is the Deputy Administrator Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services Director Center for Medicaid, CHIP, and Survey and Certification.

To better understand the motivation of Arizona to establish barriers for its citizens to this federal program, one may look no further than of the Michigan's working model, designed by Maura Corrigan.

Here is how it works.

CPS task force needs real experts

Gov. Jan Brewer labels the task force she appointed to improve Child Protective Services as comprised of "the best child-safety experts in Arizona."

However, I don't believe there is one member who has psychology, counseling or child- and family-development credentials and experience.

Given the severe lack of effectiveness of CPS over the years, why does anyone believe that yet another gathering of the same "experts" (legislators, police and other assorted businesspeople and child-welfare agency administrators) will be able to produce miraculous reform?

Why doesn't the task force include a licensed child psychologist, counselor, family therapist, or social worker who works with children and families?

Someone who not only understands abuse, neglect, mental illness and substance abuse, but who works directly with these phenomena.

Someone skilled in conducting interviews in a way that gleans honest answers and instills motivation to seek help. Our children deserve better!

-- Barbara A. O'Brien, Phoenix

Legally Kidnapped was triggered to address by a surprisingly malicious comment.

I responded in my traditional fashion.

In order to improve the functioning and image of Child Protective Services experts must represent all facets of the industry, not solely under the lens of the objective of removal of children based upon the codification of poverty being the crime of abuse and neglect. A key area when approaching the improvement in delivery and quality of services is in the administrative structures of transparency and accountability. 

Arizona has not demonstrated a very credible track record when it comes to properly administrating its child welfare services, documented in this federal report of more than $21 million in false claims. 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/3...

If Arizona has a pervasive issue with drug usage within its communities which deems removal of children, it would behoove society as a whole to identify and deliver remedy to ameliorate it. This is called, from a basic economic perspective as investment in human capital, or rather investment in the best interests of the children so they may mature for society to reap the profits of a productive, tax paying citizen. 

As it stands, the use of perjorative statements such as "bottom of the dung heap" presents, not only a lack of substance in your argument, but reduces it to an ad homenin fallacy. 

Simply put, you have been reduced to throwing sticks and stones as you have no logical retort to this op-ed. 

GOPinNOV, if your daughter, who is a representative, contractual arm of the State of Arizona, feels that its citizens and the clients of her employer are "bottom of the dung heap", then it would behoove her to find a new profession for the greater good of the State. In posting this response, you have exposed the bias when it comes to case recommendations for referral of services and reunification, which should be construed as a hate crime, calling for intervention of the State Attorney General to investigate possible civil rights and false claims violations. 

State Attorney General Tom Horne must also be included in this task force as it is the duty of his Office to investigate Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse in child welfare. At this time, I shall commend Governor Brewer for the creation of this task force and graciously offer my expertise to provide the omitted voice in the area of administration oversight and federal compliance. 

Beverly Tran 



In the end, these Child Protective Services Task Forces will only be hand picked by those individuals who are willing to coddle the whims of those who want to rebuild their economy of the backs of the poor and their children, the oldest form of survival.