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To: Ilaine who wrote (33896)	11/5/2000 12:10:30 PM
From: flatsville	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 436258

Read the bolded part...Just effing amazing. sptimes.com Suit says Medicaid coverage missing in welfare reform In a lawsuit to be filed today, Florida Legal Services says the state hasn't provided health benefits to the needy. By MIKE BRASSFIELD © St. Petersburg Times, published August 4, 1999 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Under welfare reform, people moving from welfare to work can qualify to stay on Medicaid for six months to a year to smooth the transition. That isn't happening in Florida, say advocates for the poor. They plan to file a class-action lawsuit today against Florida's social welfare agencies, claiming the state is illegally denying Medicaid coverage to thousands of working parents and their children. "What has happened in Florida undermines the success of welfare reform," said Miriam Harmatz of Florida Legal Services, which offers legal assistance to the poor. "Instead of continuing health coverage as required by law, Florida is terminating people just as they struggle to make it into the work force," she said. "We have people landing in the county hospital emergency rooms for routine health care because they have nowhere else to go." The group also claims Florida is not using a pot of federal money set aside for just this purpose. When Congress reformed the welfare system in 1996, it used a carrot-and-stick approach to get people to work. If a welfare recipient starts a low-paying job that doesn't offer affordable health insurance, Medicaid is to remain available for a transitional period for that worker and his family. Florida Legal Services says state welfare officials are keeping their clients in the dark about this. "These people don't know they're not supposed to lose their Medicaid," lawyer Charles Elsesser said. The group plans to sue the state Department of Children and Families as well as the Agency for Health Care Administration. It says DCF and AHCA have "utterly failed" to provide Medicaid to families moving from welfare to work. DCF spokeswoman Page Jolly said the agency's top lawyer hadn't seen the lawsuit yet Tuesday and couldn't comment. The federal class-action lawsuit is to be filed by five Miami-Dade County plaintiffs: four single mothers and a 2-year-old girl, all former welfare recipients. Florida Legal Services says that state statistics show roughly 175,000 needy adults and children have lost Medicaid coverage since April 1996. "Even more ironic is that we are about to give up millions of federal dollars," said JoNel Newman, another attorney for the plaintiffs. The legal advocacy group says Florida has spent only 4 percent of $22-million in federal money that is available only until Sept. 30. The lawsuit, billed as the first of its kind, is intended to force Florida to review its own policies. -- The Associated Press contributed to this report.