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I saw this on Yahoo today after getting to work. Please pass it on to your friends in Missouri. I can't say that I would be as gracious as she has been under the circumstances.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050805/ap_on_re_us/medicaid_wrong_number;_ylt=Aqv3w9wdAJQIg1tYy3U1O4jtiBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
Misprint Swamps Woman With Medicaid Calls
By DAVID A. LIEB, Associated Press Writer
Fri Aug 5, 9:14 AM ET
A businesswoman in faraway Montana was swamped with anguished calls after a letter informing 339,000 Medicaid recipients of service cuts wrongly listed her phone number for a help line for the hearing impaired.
The letters mailed Monday already have resulted in hundreds of calls to Sharon Rivera, who lives in Columbia Falls, Mont. — more than 1,200 miles northwest of Missouri's capital.
The Missouri Department of Social Services acknowledged the error Thursday. The two-page letter had correct help line numbers for voice calling but used Rivera's number, one digit away from the correct one, for calls from telephones used by the hearing or speech impaired.
Many of the callers are older — some are weeping, others cursing — and don't understand when she tries to explain the mistake, Rivera said. Instead of hanging up on them, she has been listening.
"This has been a nightmare for me. ... My phone rings constantly," Rivera said in a telephone interview. "And I honestly am feeling very, very sad for the people who call."
At the urging of Gov. Matt Blunt, the GOP-led Legislature this year eliminated Medicaid health care coverage for about 90,000 of Missouri's 1 million Medicaid recipients. It cut services such as dental care, eyeglasses and crutches for an additional 339,000 adults remaining on Medicaid, and imposed new co-payments ranging from 50 cents to $10.
Officials in the Division of Medical Service are weighing how to notify the Medicaid recipients of the mistake. The first round of letters cost the state about $80,000, spokeswoman Deborah Scott said. The state also plans to reimburse Rivera for the calls to her toll-free number and for her time.
"She's been very gracious," not only to the callers but to state officials, Scott added.
Rivera runs a home-based business, Hawkstone Productions, that books concerts and sells music for Jack Gladstone, an Indian singer, songwriter, lecturer and storyteller.
___
On the Net:
Social Services: http://www.dss.mo.gov
Hawkstone Productions: http://www.hawkstone.com
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050805/ap_on_re_us/medicaid_wrong_number;_ylt=Aqv3w9wdAJQIg1tYy3U1O4jtiBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
Misprint Swamps Woman With Medicaid Calls
By DAVID A. LIEB, Associated Press Writer
Fri Aug 5, 9:14 AM ET
A businesswoman in faraway Montana was swamped with anguished calls after a letter informing 339,000 Medicaid recipients of service cuts wrongly listed her phone number for a help line for the hearing impaired.
The letters mailed Monday already have resulted in hundreds of calls to Sharon Rivera, who lives in Columbia Falls, Mont. — more than 1,200 miles northwest of Missouri's capital.
The Missouri Department of Social Services acknowledged the error Thursday. The two-page letter had correct help line numbers for voice calling but used Rivera's number, one digit away from the correct one, for calls from telephones used by the hearing or speech impaired.
Many of the callers are older — some are weeping, others cursing — and don't understand when she tries to explain the mistake, Rivera said. Instead of hanging up on them, she has been listening.
"This has been a nightmare for me. ... My phone rings constantly," Rivera said in a telephone interview. "And I honestly am feeling very, very sad for the people who call."
At the urging of Gov. Matt Blunt, the GOP-led Legislature this year eliminated Medicaid health care coverage for about 90,000 of Missouri's 1 million Medicaid recipients. It cut services such as dental care, eyeglasses and crutches for an additional 339,000 adults remaining on Medicaid, and imposed new co-payments ranging from 50 cents to $10.
Officials in the Division of Medical Service are weighing how to notify the Medicaid recipients of the mistake. The first round of letters cost the state about $80,000, spokeswoman Deborah Scott said. The state also plans to reimburse Rivera for the calls to her toll-free number and for her time.
"She's been very gracious," not only to the callers but to state officials, Scott added.
Rivera runs a home-based business, Hawkstone Productions, that books concerts and sells music for Jack Gladstone, an Indian singer, songwriter, lecturer and storyteller.
___
On the Net:
Social Services: http://www.dss.mo.gov
Hawkstone Productions: http://www.hawkstone.com