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University of Wisconsin–Madison
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty

Colorado Benefits Management System and Medicaid

Paperwork maze endangering Colorado Medicaid patients, By Allison Sherry, March 3, 2010, Denver Post: “As Denver County and state attorney general investigators probe why an asthmatic boy on Medicaid couldn’t get his medication and died, advocates say eligibility glitches are a daily headache causing life-threatening problems for the poor. Since the recession drove thousands more people to the public safety net, advocacy lawyers have received an increasing number of calls from people unable to get health care or prescription drugs – even though they carry Medicaid or Child Health Plan Plus eligibility cards. ‘I deal with this every day. There is some problem, someone I have to call, and it hurts care,’ said Michelle Tafoya, an intake worker at Rose Pediatrics and herself a victim of a computer glitch. When Tafoya went to get antidepressants for her oldest son earlier this year, the system said he had no pharmacy benefits – even though he was enrolled in Child’s Health Plan Plus, or CHP. Because Tafoya battles with Medicaid discrepancies for a living, she asked the pharmacy for a loan on the drugs and started calling CHP contractors every day…”