South Carolina Health Insurance Waits on Funds
Posted on June 26th, 2011
South Carolina is leaving hundreds of thousands of funds from the government untouched for the time being and many patient advocates are frustrated by this. According to the article “SC Declines to Use Federal Health Funds” by Renee Dudley on HeraldOnline.com, $441,000 is not being used which was to assist South Carolina residents learn about individual health insurance South Carolina as well as enroll some eligible candidates under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The South Carolina Department of Insurance received the funds in October and they were originally looking to contract nonprofit groups to help people enroll for coverage, hire people to resolve insurance complaints, hold educational forums, and create health care reform pamphlets. Half a year later the department has admitted they have made little progress. Some think the department is on a reverse course as they shun some goals it had set out to meet in 2010, all of which was on the application submitted to the US Department of Health and Human Services to receive the funds in the first place.
Sue Berkowitz, an advocate for the uninsured who leads the Appleseed Legal Justice Center, says the money is just sitting there not being used, and the department is not following through on what they promised the government. As an example, the application to the government specified that they planned on hiring a project manager, a program assistant, and 4 students to run the assistance program. Unfortunately, just last week, the department said they will not be hiring any additional personnel which is inconsistent with the application. Time will tell if South Carolina can get on top of things to get the ball rolling, because the money will eventually have to be spent somehow.
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Tags: Funds, South Carolina
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