NEWS RELEASE
For release 7 a.m. Monday, August 25, 2008
For more information, contact
Shaw R. Friedman at 219/326-1264
EIGHT LAPORTE COUNTY MEDICAID AND FOOD STAMP RECIPIENTS
FILE SUIT SEEKING TO BLOCK WELFARE PRIVATIZATION IN
NORTHWEST INDIANA AND KEEP FACE-TO-FACE CONTACT WITH
CASEWORKERS
( LaPorte , IN ) - Eight LaPorte County residents who receive Food Stamps, Medicaid or TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) filed suit in LaPorte Circuit Court on Friday afternoon seeking an injunction to block the rollout of a privatized system of welfare services in northwest Indiana (Region 3) that would eliminate or substantially reduce face-to-face contact with caseworkers in favor of phone call centers and computer intake run by private vendors.
LaPorte Circuit Court Judge Thomas Alevizos has set the matter for hearing on the Plaintiffs' request for preliminary injunction on Tuesday, September 2, 2008 at 1:30 p.m. Named as Defendants in the lawsuit are Governor Mitch Daniels, Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) Secretary Mitch Roob and the head of FSSA's Division of Family Resources Zack Main.
The eight Medicaid, Food Stamp and TANF recipients are represented by attorney Shaw R. Friedman of LaPorte who charged that "in their zeal to privatize government functions and turn over operations to various out-of-state corporations like IBM and ACS, the Defendants have trampled upon common sense, they have disregarded the needs of the aged, the infirm and the disabled and they are violating federal and state law and regulations in the process."
Said Friedman, "One in six Hoosiers depend on Food Stamps and Medicaid. This is a highly vulnerable population who need and deserve accessible local offices that are properly staffed with experienced caseworkers who can provide face-to-face contact."
Friedman charged that the "U.S. Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has so many concerns about Indiana's welfare privatization, it told the state in a June 23rd letter it wanted a halt in the rollout until a corrective action plan was in place. The Defendants claim they have put things on hold to fix what they call 'bugs' in the system, yet our evidence is that despite the directives from FNS, caseworkers are being removed from local offices in northwest Indiana and the transition to privatization continues. The only thing that Mitch Daniels and Mitch Roob will respect is a court order and we aim to get that for them."
"Our clients are doing this not just for themselves but for tens of thousands of other young, elderly and disabled residents in FSSA's 13-county Region 3 (which includes LaPorte, St. Joseph, Lake and other northwestern Indiana counties) who depend on face-to-face contact with caseworkers to determine eligibility for benefits. If the Administration wants to provide computers and call centers as another entry point or option to check on benefits, that's great, but you don't replace highly skilled local caseworkers who do eligibility with somebody working for a private vendor in a call center."
The state's Medicaid Oversight Commission recently conducted a number of field hearings in those parts of Indiana already using privatized call centers rather than face-to-face contact with caseworkers and Friedman charged the evidence suggests "thousands of recipients needing their prescription drugs and food stamps are being bumped off the rolls for no good reason." Not only that, Friedman charged that privatization has "not saved taxpayers one thin dime in the two fiscal years since its inception. It actually cost taxpayer dollars to move to this new system so that a few out-of-state corporations could make money on the backs of our poor, our disabled kids and our elderly. That's unacceptable and we plan to make our case to the court as to why an injunction should immediately issue that would block privatization from being rolled out in northwest Indiana."
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