Ombudsman assists woman obtain health care card

Diane Welborn is the Ombudsman for Dayton/Montgomery County. CONTRIBUTED

Diane Welborn is the Ombudsman for Dayton/Montgomery County. CONTRIBUTED

Editor’s note: The Dayton Ombudsman Office provides weekly columns to the Dayton Daily News to bring awareness to issues it sees in the community.

Recently a woman called the Ombudsman requesting assistance for her sister. Our caller serves as an “authorized representative” for her sister, which permits the sister to act in her place in matters pertaining to benefits from the Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services. The sister had assisted in obtaining health care coverage, however, no card was ever received. The sister had received coverage and had been enrolled in a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO).

The sister serving as the authorized representative had tried through the online system to rectify the situation but did not find that she was able to do so. She also tried reaching someone via telephone, but after spending more than one hour on hold, she could not get the answers she needed and called the Ombudsman for assistance.

The Ombudsman contacted the supervisor at the MCJFS to investigate and assist with a resolution. The supervisor called the authorized representative and reported that actions had been taken to resolve the problem.

The authorized representative contacted our office to thank staff for assisting her and her sister to resolve their coverage problem.

The Ombudsman Column, a production of the Joint Office of Citizens’ Complaints, summarizes selected problems that citizens have had with government services, schools and nursing homes in the Dayton area.


CONTACT THE OMBUDSMAN

In person or via mail: 11 W. Monument Ave., Suite 606, Dayton, OH 45402

Call: 937-223- 4613

Email: ombudsman@dayton-ombudsman.org

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