Two related articles were in my feed reader, side by side. One noted that Gov. Daniels has appointed Michael Gargano to be FSSA’s new director. The other reports that the federal government has audited FSSA and claims that it owes the federal government more than $39 million in overpayments to medical providers.
It’s a bad time for FSSA (but when isn’t a bad time for that agency?) Advance Indiana has a blistering blog entry noting that Gargano was a consultant for ACS, the company with the insider privatization deal to manage welfare eligibility services that collapsed so spectacularly. This is particularly bad since one of the more unpalatable aspects of that ACS deal was that Mitch Roob, head of FSSA at the time, was a former ACS employee.
Meanwhile, state workers are reportedly telling parents of disabled children who can’t get assistance via Medicaid waivers that dropping their kids off at homeless shelters might be a viable option to get treatment for the kids.
ACS seems to be in charge of our state and city finances and barnes and thornberg seem to be running the show, passing out goodies to their supporters and paying each other big bucks and placing each other into powerful positions. From the city county council to the cib to the statehouse to the regulatory committees (IRUC), they are all related, often by marriage, and they do not have our best interests in mind. I hope they do not disappear me. :)
Maybe you might be able to weave in Milliman, and HMA in this Medicaid mess. The three companies are making alot of money from taxpayers while government workers are being laid off.