Frustrated aid recipients have turned to advocacy organizations that have received hundreds of complaints about pregnant women denied prenatal care, babies who were not allowed vaccinations and sickened children turned away from medical care.

Advocates for the poor said that when they call county workers on behalf of their clients, they are repeatedly told the computer system is causing the problems.

"The technology was supposed to be a blessing, and it's been turned into a curse," said Linda Feldman of the Venice Family Clinic. "People are left without coverage. They're totally vulnerable."

Problems with the computer system have been acknowledged by officials with the county Department of Public Social Services, but they insist the system's major glitches have been fixed. They blame the continued errors on county workers, who began receiving additional training in December to help them master the system.

"Yes, there are problems that need to be fixed, but by and large, most people are getting their benefits on time," said Jim Swedlow, deputy director of the project. "It's not in a crisis state."

The federal Department of Health and Human Services in September wrote to county officials saying they had "an obligation to expeditiously correct computer programming problems that lead to erroneous Medicaid denials and terminations."

The system was designed to automate welfare eligibility determinations. Los Angeles County processes about 700,000 of those applications each year.

The system was introduced in October 1999 after 3‚“ years of design and $66 million in cost overruns.

Welfare officials told the Board of Supervisors in August that the system was working in "substantial compliance."

"It's the typical bureaucratic line. You don't want to say publicly that this $150 million computer system is a piece of (garbage)," said Kim Lewis, a staff lawyer at the Western Center on Law and Poverty.

PT Connect

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

Answers

http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00852D

-- Anonymous, February 19, 2002