Thursday, May 17, 2007

There's "deadbeat," "hapless," "incompetent." Then there's "unconscionable," "derelict" and "irresponsible."

Whatever you choose to call it, the state's failure to pay providers of Medicaid services years after they did the work now amounts to stealing. If the state was a private individual, they'd have been taken to the collection agency and small claims court long ago. If the state was a private insurance company, it would have been shut down by now -- by the state bureau of insurance.

Yes, we know that a lousy computer system bollixed everything up. But a computer system is an inanimate object. People who run businesses -- dentists, doctors, physical therapists, hospital administrators -- aren't. And this problem is hurting people. For all the state's commitment to its small businesses and large employers, this strung-out episode is putting the lie to that commitment.

Every time a reporter dips or digs into the issue for the latest update, they find businesses that are hurting. Doctors who won't take Medicaid patients any more because it's unlikely they'll get paid to take them. Hospital administrators at their wits' end. The story's the same, but there's a seemingly infinite cast of victims. And while the state took steps to reimburse providers with so-called interim payments, those payments have hardly settled the outstanding claims.

It's hard to believe that this is a problem that totally defies solution. We can only surmise that somebody, somewhere in state government has made the calculation that we're in so deep, we can't afford to get out of a billing system that's the cyber-version of an unending nightmare. And now the state is saying that it will be three years before a new system will be up and running. Hard to swallow.

Surely, there are some diabolical geniuses out there in the world where computers and finance overlap, who can figure this one out. They're probably only 14 years old, but at this point, we'll put our faith in anyone other than the discredited functionaries in Maine state government. Those folks need to go back to school, and let somebody competent and responsible take over this mess. No more excuses.