Medicaid workers told calls to lawmakers must stop

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The head of Missouri's Medicaid program this week told caseworkers in a memo that the calls from aggrieved clients to state lawmakers have got to stop.

Janel Luck, interim director of the state Division of Family Support Services, instructed employees not to tell clients to contact legislators when they have concerns about changes in Medicaid eligibility.

The Legislature this year increased the eligibility requirements for Medicaid, and Luck said her office was getting calls from lawmakers concerned about the number of calls they were getting from clients asking about the changes.

"Several legislators from different areas have reported that clients say their caseworker told them to call," Luck wrote in the memo that went out on Monday. "Sometimes, we know this is a misrepresentation of the conversation with the caseworker. However, the situation is occurring frequently enough that I wanted to take the opportunity to remind staff about this issue."

Luck stressed in the memo the importance of caseworkers clearly explaining any changes to Medicaid benefits and that while clients may say they want to complain to legislators, "staff should not initiate this type of discussion."

Deborah Scott, a spokeswoman for the Department of Social Services, which oversees Luck's division, said the memo was aimed at stopping caseworkers from referring specific questions about eligibility to legislators.

"It is not appropriate for our employees to divert their responsibilities elsewhere," Scott said.

Scott added that individual caseworkers wouldn't be disciplined for telling angry clients to complain to a lawmaker. She said she didn't have a list of lawmakers who had complained about the calls.

Democrats characterized the memo as an attempt by Republicans to avoid responsibility for changing the Medicaid requirements.

"There's absolutely no reason underpaid state employees should be falling on their sword for Governor (Matt) Blunt and the Republican legislature," said Jack Cardetti, spokesman for the Missouri Democratic Party. "They (Republicans) want to gloss over the fact they took health care away from 100,000 people. When these people have questions, it's now 'inappropriate' to direct them to the governor's officer of legislators."

But Blunt spokesman Spence Jackson said the Democrats were making "wild and ridiculous" allegations and that the division is simply asking caseworkers to do their jobs.

"It's not an issue for (the caseworker) to get into speculating about who did or didn't do what," Jackson said. "They ought to only be concerned about handling the issues put before them that deal with changes in the policy."