Tips for a Medicaid Application
What’s going on with Medicaid Applications at the Department of Children and Families around the state of Florida?
Part 2
In our last blog, we discussed some of the horror stories coming out of the Department of Children and Families regarding Medicaid applications
Firstly a few nightmares:
- Applications filed in one county moved to another (seems they are centralizing).
- Several cases being ignored for months on end, where even filing for a Fair Hearing wasn’t getting attention
- Several cases where the medicals from CARES did not go to the files
Here are some tips on getting your case to be looked at:
- The Department of Children and Families (DCF) site has a lot of information myflfamilies.com. Send your issue to anyone whom you think you can help
- Contact the supervisor or district counsel
- Use paper: fax or letter, not just email
If advocacy is needed, get an advocate. Lawyers are advocates first and foremost. So this is how I began my journey in order to advocate for my clients. I needed to be able to be armed for the task.
- I reviewed the necessary federal, administrative law and Florida Medicaid Manual to be able to send the department the exact rules and law applicable to the particular matter including the appropriate time limits
- I contacted as many people as I thought could have anything to do with this case. I start with email and phone, but go to fax and mail quickly if necessary.
- I discussed the matter with several elder law attorneys at our last conference to see what was going on around the state and how they handled it.
- I checked with CARES because there seemed to be some disconnect with CARES and DCF on some of these cases.
I have finally resolved all of my open Medicaid files, but it is necessary to be educated, focused and diligent to get the result you want.
