Medical coverage caught up in red tape

Recently a woman contacted the Ombudsman Office for assistance in obtaining her medical coverage. The woman had applied for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in April 2017. The SNAP or food stamps were approved in April 2017, but not the medical coverage. She visited the Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services (MCDJFS) in November 2017, and could not obtain information about her application, so she turned to the Ombudsman for assistance.

The Ombudsman contacted the MCDJFS regarding the woman’s medical application. The caseworker responded that she was going to process the woman’s medical application retroactive to her application date of April 7, 2017. The caseworker concluded that in the telephone interview with the woman that the intake worker misunderstood the name of the woman’s employer with another, because the names of the two employers were quite similar. The worker sent the woman an employment verification form to sign, date, and return for the correct employer. The next day the Ombudsman received an email from the staff at MCDJFS that the woman’s medical application was approved.