Disappeared News: Whistleblower confirms lack of care coordination, prescription coverage for Tantalus man

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Whistleblower confirms lack of care coordination, prescription coverage for Tantalus man

by Larry Geller

In the latest development in the Tantalus shooting incident, the Disability Mom website posted two updates today. The first is an email from an apparent whistleblower within the QExA system.

The issue concerns whether Martin Boegel, the man shot by the off-duty FBI agent Sunday on Tantalus, was receiving required medication and care coordination (case management) through Ohana Health Plan, a health plan offered by WellCare Health Insurance of Arizona, Inc.

The email is in response to an article posted yesterday on the same website. It says, in part:

Mr. Boegel did not have prescription drug coverage (Part D) under Medicare, he only had limited hospital, he did not have Medicare Part B, C, D and limited coverage under A. That is why he had coverage under the State Prescription Assistance Program.
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Ohana is ultimately responsible as they were to coordinate all care for Mr. Boegel Ohana does not even know the basic coverage of the primary insurance Medicare, and concerning as over 35,000 Medicaid clients are dual eligible (Medicare Primary/Medicaid Secondary). Now look at how many lives were affected, the shooter, the by-standers, and his family (mom). [Disability Mom, Statement by Hawaii Medicaid Employee regarding Martin Boegel and Ohana, 5/13/2010]

Please check the original article for the full text.

The second post suggests that there is an ongoing investigation into other deaths that may be linked to the health plans. Again, for the complete article, please click the link.

According to a long-time employee of the Hawaii Department of Human Services, the FBI has been investigating almost forty deaths that have occurred in the past year linked to cuts in Medicaid services enacted by UnitedHealth (Evercare) and Wellcare (Ohana).

My source says the list ranges from infants to the elderly.
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I was also told that Martin Boegel is not the first criminal victim whose problems could possibly be linked to UnitedHealth or Wellcare not assigning a physician who could authorize their medications. [Disability Mom, Hawaii Medicaid employee says FBI investigating deaths from budget cuts, 5/13/2010]