HONOLULU — Hawaii has potentially missed out on tens of millions of dollars in federal reimbursements from claims related to teaching Medicaid-insured special education students, according to state officials and a review of federal data.
A review of federal Centers for Medicare &Medicaid Services data shows the state received nearly $260,000 for school-based Medicaid health services in 2016, a fraction of what most states get, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Sunday.
On average, states received $48 million in 2016, the latest year with state-by-state federal statistics available. In states with similar overall student populations — like Rhode Island, Montana, Maine and New Hampshire — each received between $26 million and $38 million in reimbursements, according to the data.
State Rep. Sylvia Luke, a Democrat who heads the House Finance Committee, said she believes Hawaii has been missing out on about $50 million to $100 million annually for years.
State Department of Education officials declined to comment on whether millions of federal dollars were left on the table, saying doing so would be speculation. The reimbursement differences between the states reflect the complexity and difficulty of the Medicaid program, the department said.
“A lot of states are still trying to figure it out,” said Heidi Armstrong, interim assistant superintendent of the department’s Office of Student Support Services.
The department is taking aggressive steps to maximize reimbursements under Superintendent Christina Kishimoto, who entered the role a year ago, Armstrong said.
“We are aggressively going to seek reimbursement for every service and every eligible child that we’re able to. We are committed to doing that,” Armstrong said.
The state receives federal reimbursements for qualifying expenses by submitting billing records and ensuring federal requirements are met. The department is spending about $367 million on special education this year.
“We have to be mindful that federal funding can be unpredictable,” Armstrong said, “and that Medicaid reimbursements are supplementary funds that cannot be relied on as a guaranteed source of funding for some of our most vulnerable students.”
You expected anything less from this government? “A lot of states are still trying to figure it out”, they say. Uh huh. It seems Montana and Rhode Island figured it out, and managed not to leave $26 – 38 million sitting on the table.
Eh, it’s only $$$, we don’t need it. We’re **Hawaii** — flush with cash, among the top school systems & special ed programs in the nation. And it would take $thousands in manpower just to get $$$millions in return! Think of all the actual work and mental effort by State DOE workers that would involve!
You know what they say…excuses are like okoles, everybody has one. That being said, it’s this local government’s job to keep the people of Hawaii’s covered. That’s what they were elected for and are paid to do. They better get busy or some of them will soon be pushing a broom, a job for which they lack even the qualifications to do, but yet somehow managed to get elected to a government position. Ineptitude at it’s finest.
Have you ever seen anyone fired on this island for being incompetent? The only state wide firing recently was for the missile alert, but only have the story went national and their lying was revealed. I think their brooms will remain in the closet.
These unqualified elected people you talk about are not elected they are appointed, got their job by being connected to the one’s we DO vote, (they are union supports too), for these job, no matta your qualifications. Think about it, when was the time you saw Kisimoto or Armstrong’s name on a voters ballot. As I understand it one get the Government one voted for.
Or “didn’t vote for.” Think many of us are usually so overwhelmed by the staggering bounty of great and politically diverse choices that we simply don’t know who to cast our vote for!