MAINERS SHARE PROBLEMS WITH FLAWED MAINECARE RIDES SYSTEM

Health and Human Services Committee considers two bills to find solution

AUGUSTA—For more than two and a half hours, members of the public testified before the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee that while wait times on the phone have declined, the flawed MaineCare ride system still isn’t working for people who depend upon the rides to get to work or to medical appointments.

“We have heard repeatedly that the current system is not working,” said Democratic Senator Margaret Craven, the Senate Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee. “We have waited for more than four months for the brokers to get their act together and they have failed to do so. We now have two proposals to review and are looking forward to crafting a workable solution.”

The committee is considering two measures to address the broken system. The first, sponsored by Democratic Senator Colleen Lachowicz of Waterville, will create a more reliable and efficient system based on the Vermont model. Vermont uses a locally controlled system that is approved by the feds.

“We’ve given the new system a chance to work and it hasn’t,” said Senator Lachowicz. “People were happier with the old system. It’s time to scrap this system and return to one that works.”

Judy Rawlings, a volunteer for the Maine Council on Aging, testified that one patient “missed a dialysis treatment due to the lack of ride. Two days later, she ended up in the hospital. We did not see those kinds of problems under the old system.”

Gary Dyer, a volunteer driver for one of the transportation providers, said that the broker system has added an extra layer of bureaucracy and that “we need a new system that works like the old one.”

Mr. Dyer spoke about his struggles trying to work with Coordinated Transportation Solutions, one of the three brokers, stating that they “don’t have a clue about the geography of the area where the rides are provided….CTS has caused enough anguish and they should not continue to have this contract.”

The second measure the committee is considering is sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Troy Jackson and would cancel the current contract with CTS, the least responsive transportation broker and the broker with the most egregious errors.

Shortly before the public hearing began, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it would not be renewing CTS’s contract, which expires June 30.

“I’m more concerned than ever now that CTS is a lame-duck contractor. Now that they know they won’t be getting a new contract, they have no incentive to get their act together,” said Senator Jackson. “They’ve mismanaged this program for five months, and unless we cancel their contract, they will have another six months to continue their flawed service.”

The work sessions for Senator Lachowicz’s bill, LD 1636 “An Act To Provide a More Efficient and Reliable System of Nonemergency Transportation for MaineCare Members,” and Senator Jackson’s bill, LD 1663, “Resolve, To Terminate a MaineCare Transportation Contract,” will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday January 16, in room 209 of the Cross Office Building.