WELFARE REFORM IN INDIANA

[government in action]

Like many other states, Indiana's social services have been bureaucratic and fragmented. As a result, they are not convenient for the state's welfare recipients and are costly to operate. Under the state's system:

• Clients must apply for each social service in person at a state office during business hours, and each visit requires an average wait of two to three hours.
• In almost three out of four cases (72 percent), eligibility is not determined during the initial interview -- requiring additional verification and often additional office visits.
• Almost every action in the eligibility process requires a different form and/or notice, and each of the state's 94 counties has had its own set of procedures.

These conditions provide the following results:

• Thirty-five percent of eligibility determinations for Medicaid long-term care in 2003 contained errors, costing taxpayers an estimated $10 million to $50 million per year -- and the federal government up to $100 million annually.
• Twenty-six percent of TANF benefit determinations contained errors.
• Twelve percent of food stamp benefit determinations were in error -- and Indiana ranks 48th among the states in recouping food stamp overpayments.

[Such abysmal performance can only evolve in the protected environment of government monopolies where there are no consequences for failure (can any of us image keeping our jobs {or a company surviving} with a 30% error rate?) - worse; it's not just possible but virtually inevitable in such circumstance. And this is the path some what to place our healthcare system upon?]

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