Glitch delays healthcare money for 38 families

More than three dozen families are awaiting the arrival of state checks to defray their health insurance costs, after a computer glitch delayed 1,100 checks for a month.

The computer problem occurred in mid-November in the state's Family Assistance program, said Jennifer Kritz, spokeswoman for the executive office of Health and Human Services. The program helps 30,652 people with health insurance coverage who might otherwise not be able to afford it, typically by reimbursing a portion of the money deducted from workers' paychecks for their monthly insurance premium. By yesterday afternoon, she said, all but 38 checks had been processed.

Among those waiting for reimbursement is Amanda Holthaus, 34, a nurse and single mother of three in Hull, who said Family Assistance supervisors have been telling her for a week that nearly $1,000 owed her is in the mail. Since then, her rent and day-care checks have bounced. As of yesterday, she said, the state's check had not arrived.

"That's a good amount of money for a single mother at Christmas," said Holthaus, who asked her father for a loan. "I am a grown woman and it's humiliating to face this when you have done the right thing."

Holthaus said she has been working her way off government assistance and was proud to be able to work enough hours in October to qualify for health insurance through her job. The Family Assistance program is supposed to pay $641 a month toward her $700 premium.

But her reimbursement for half of October and all of November never arrived, she said. The December checks are also scheduled to be mailed this week.

State workers identified a computer system problem last week in two databases that were not communicating, so checks were not being released from the comptroller's office, said Kritz.

They "immediately took action to address the problem as soon as it was discovered, and we are currently updating control procedures to prevent it from occurring again," she said.

Holthaus's check is apparently among the 38 being processed.

The reimbursement program saves taxpayers money because it is less expensive for the state to pay a portion of a worker's health insurance premium - with the employer and worker picking up the rest - instead of footing all or most of the bill in a state-funded insurance program.

Since its inception in the mid-1990s, the Family Assistance program has helped thousands of Bay Staters pay for employer-provided health insurance and has become a "terrific national model," said Brian Rosman, of Health Care for All, a statewide consumer group.

"That's why glitches like this are so disappointing," he said, "because it hurts the credibility of this kind of program."

Added Rosman: "We are really pleased to learn the state is taking steps to make sure it doesn't happen again, and we intend to monitor this closely."

Kay Lazar can be reached at klazar@globe.com.