Report: Wis. never enforced 1998 child support law
MADISON -- Wisconsin Medicaid officials have
never enforced a 1998 law requiring them to kick out health care
providers behind on their child support payments, a recent report
found.
The state agency in charge of Medicaid faulted another agency for
the failure but says it is moving to belatedly implement the law.
Meanwhile, lawmakers who authored the requirement as part of a bill
to crack down on "deadbeat dads" are upset.
"It's really disappointing that after 10 years the Department of
Health Services and the Department of Workforce Development have
failed to comply with the provisions of this law. I think this
negligence is very, very serious," said Sen. Alberta Darling,
R-River Hills. "To fail children who are in need of getting support
from their parents — for the state not to go to bat for the
policy — is extremely disappointing to me."
The problem came to light in a report earlier this month by the
Legislative Audit Bureau. Auditors said they could not determine
the number of doctors, dentists, chiropractors, nursing home
administrators and others in the $4.9 billion Medicaid program that
would be affected if the law was enforced.
The law requires Medicaid officials to deny certification to any
provider delinquent in making court-ordered child or family support
payments. Providers who fail to comply with subpoenas or warrants
related to paternity or child support proceedings were also to be
ineligible.
After the law was passed, the Department of Health and Family
Services said it asked the Department of Workforce Development for
a list of delinquent providers in July 1999.
"At that time, DHFS was informed that DWD was not prepared to
comply and that they would inform us when they were," the health
agency, now known as the Department of Health Services, wrote in
response to the audit. "We are not aware of any further
communication related to that issue."
The department promised to update lawmakers by April 1 on its
progress in finally implementing the law.
"We can't answer for the decisions that were made nine years ago.
We know we have something we have to fix," spokesman Seth Boffeli
said Tuesday. "We're working right now to find the most effective
way to do these checks."
Darling said she would ask her colleagues to hold a public hearing
to get an explanation of what happened and who was responsible. She
said she would also ask for information on how much money Medicaid
providers who were supposed to be ineligible received over the last
decade.
Boffeli said the agency was not sure how many providers may have
received improper payments.
The newly created Department of Children and Families, which
started operations earlier this year, has assumed responsibility
from DWD for overseeing child support collection efforts. Agency
lawyer Connie Chesnik said it could begin enforcing the law soon by
matching its names on child support delinquents against the names
of Medicaid providers.
The agency already has a similar process in place for suspending
the professional licenses of tattoo artists, body piercers and
workers who deal with lead and asbestos. Chesnik said four such
licenses have been suspended in the last three years.
In Wisconsin, more than 139,000 people owe a total of $1.1 billion
in past-due child support. That amount is owed to more than 300,000
children, Chesnik said. Most of the money is collected by
withholding income from paychecks.
Rep. Mike Huebsch, a Republican who authored the 1998 law with
Darling and others, said he was "disappointed but not surprised" by
the lack of enforcement. He called on the agency to begin enforcing
the law to send a message.
"You only need to crack down and have one or two high-profile
incidents and the rest will fall in line," he said.
