Virginia's Medicaid program comes under scrutiny: 6 things to know

A recent audit shows Virginia's Medicaid program includes waste and inefficiencies, according to a report from The Washington Post.

Here are six things to know about the audit.

1. It was released this week and conducted by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.

2. The audit found the following, according to the report.

  • Virginia wasted at least $21 million last year on benefits for recipients who were no longer eligible for Medicaid.
  • The state verified the income for applicants who claim earnings of $1 or more but took the word of those who said they have no income.
  • The state has delayed application approval for people entering the program. Specifically, 25 percent of applications submitted in the first quarter of this year were approved late.

3. According to The Washington Post, the audit also called out Virginia's "passive" approach to recovering money owed from the estates of certain Medicaid patients who had died.

4. The audit findings were not disputed by state administration officials. According to the report, officials said they were working to fix flaws in the system, some of which were exacerbated by a big increase in applications as a result of the rollout of the Affordable Care Act in 2013.

5. For instance, Linda Nablo, chief deputy director of the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services, said the policy around not verifying people have no income was "a holdover from the days when we had to rely on pay stubs," according to The Washington Post. "To verify income; there is no paper to verify zero," she said in the report. "But that is no longer the case in the advent of electronic sources, and we should and will be maximizing their use and treat zero-income reporters the same as we treat people who report $1 of income.”

6. The audit comes amid Virginia's years-long fight on whether to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) recently indicated he would continue his push for Medicaid expansion.

 

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