What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Iowa
Hi, everyone.
I used to receive Medicaid through the Iowa Department of Human Services. The Department began to inappropriately charge me premiums. I paid a total of $30, and then the Department inappropriately disenrolled me from coverage in August, 2015. I appealed the decision, and the administrative law judge who heard the case found both the premiums and the disenrollment inappropriate. She ordered in December that the Department re-enroll me immediately, retroactive to September, and that the premiums I had already paid be applied to the months of September, October, and November.
Months went by, and the Department of Human Services did not re-enroll me. At the end of May of this year, I sent a letter to the Department asking that it return my $30 to me, since it had not re-enrolled me as ordered. It responded by enrolling me retroactive to December.
Though I do not know the legal definition of "immediately," I suspect that "six months later and only when reminded of a debt" is not it, and, because the Department did not re-enroll me as ordered, I was obliged to pay $54 in federal taxes for not having coverage the last four months of 2015. The Department still has not claimed to have covered me for the months of September, October, and November, to which the premiums were supposed to have been applied--and retroactive coverage is nothing but a mockery anyway, for people like me who suffer for months on end without the medications that they cannot afford. In these two ways, the Department has failed to abide by the judge's order.
My question is, what do I do? I do not want to be covered by the Department of Human Services; that has been an endless parade of horrors. I now have access to healthcare through the federal exchange and find it infinitely more humane, albeit more expensive. What I want is to have my $30 in inappropriately assessed premiums returned to me, and to have the Department compensate me for the $54 I had to pay in taxes.
Is the next step contacting the judge who issued the order? Asking for an order of contempt? Small-claims court? Something else? I have already applied to Iowa Legal Aid for advice, but I do not know how long they will take to respond. Any advice is appreciated.
Hi, everyone.
I used to receive Medicaid through the Iowa Department of Human Services. The Department began to inappropriately charge me premiums. I paid a total of $30, and then the Department inappropriately disenrolled me from coverage in August, 2015. I appealed the decision, and the administrative law judge who heard the case found both the premiums and the disenrollment inappropriate. She ordered in December that the Department re-enroll me immediately, retroactive to September, and that the premiums I had already paid be applied to the months of September, October, and November.
Months went by, and the Department of Human Services did not re-enroll me. At the end of May of this year, I sent a letter to the Department asking that it return my $30 to me, since it had not re-enrolled me as ordered. It responded by enrolling me retroactive to December.
Though I do not know the legal definition of "immediately," I suspect that "six months later and only when reminded of a debt" is not it, and, because the Department did not re-enroll me as ordered, I was obliged to pay $54 in federal taxes for not having coverage the last four months of 2015. The Department still has not claimed to have covered me for the months of September, October, and November, to which the premiums were supposed to have been applied--and retroactive coverage is nothing but a mockery anyway, for people like me who suffer for months on end without the medications that they cannot afford. In these two ways, the Department has failed to abide by the judge's order.
My question is, what do I do? I do not want to be covered by the Department of Human Services; that has been an endless parade of horrors. I now have access to healthcare through the federal exchange and find it infinitely more humane, albeit more expensive. What I want is to have my $30 in inappropriately assessed premiums returned to me, and to have the Department compensate me for the $54 I had to pay in taxes.
Is the next step contacting the judge who issued the order? Asking for an order of contempt? Small-claims court? Something else? I have already applied to Iowa Legal Aid for advice, but I do not know how long they will take to respond. Any advice is appreciated.
