Greensboro resident and new Secretary of Health and Human Services Aldona Wos tells WUNC she’s committed to helping fix the state’s group home problem. According to the radio station 1400 people “with mental illnesses or developmental disabilities are no longer eligible for Medicaid reimbursements for personal care services,” and funding allocated by outgoing Gov. Bev Perdue will run out quickly.
Wos tells WUNC:
Everyone- legislator, government, governor, stakeholders, everyone is interested in making sure that everybody has a place to live and isn’t thrown out on the street. So everyone’s on the same page, it’s a matter of resolving it. And the bigger picture resolution is that it has to come from the legislature, they’re working on it, they’re really working on it.
If that’s not enough, the bigger problem Wos faces is fixing the department’s new Medicaid Management Information System, which according to a state audit, is two years behind and $320 million over budget. The new system is scheduled go live July 1 in spite of State Auditor Beth Wood’s claim “there’s just no evidence … that it will work.”
Gov. Pat McCrory yesterday told his Greensboro audience “there’s no backup plan” and if the system doesn’t work, “we’re in a bind.” Quite the understatement.