When our foster child came to live with us she was previously living in a bordering state to ours. She had medical coverage through a private medical insurance company via one of her paternal parents. The two states were confused as to who would be responsible for her supplemental medical coverage; the child’s new state of residence, or previous state (which is still managing every other aspect of her “case”.) In the end it was decided that our state (where she lives) would provide the supplemental coverage. This was our preference because if the originating state provided the coverage, all medical treatment would have to be performed in that state as well. That isn’t really feasible for our situation.
Our foster child has recently lost the private insurance coverage. This means the only thing left is the supplemental coverage through the state of WA. Unfortunately what we have from the state is an ‘open’ medical card. She’s not on any sort of coverage plan. She has some minor medical issues that require medication and prescriptions refills so I immediately got on the phone to the state (of WA) to find out what our options were. I had just established her with our family pediatrician last month, but since she no longer has the private insurance our pediatrician cannot see her anymore. She (and the clinic she works from) won’t take open medical cards unless there is additional private insurance coverage as well.
It turns out NO providers in our county accepts any ‘new patients’ with these open medical cards.
I started the calls yesterday to find out what I need to do. I was referred to someone, who referred me to someone, who referred me to an automated system that helpfully gave me instructions in three different languages (despite my choosing the option for instructions in English) for each menu item, which eventually connected me with a human, after being on hold for ten minutes, who told me to call the first person back that I was referred to originally. But they claimed it was so-and-so who claimed it was actually so-and-so, and back again that should help me.
Confused yet? Yeah. Me too. The only information I received for the day was the open cards pretty much only cover emergencies since hardly anyone takes them. I gave up for the day.
Today I tried again and after another round of calling all the wrong people (that the state workers were sending me to) I finally got connected with someone who knew what was going on. Our foster child can’t get on a coverage plan. Foster children in Washington are only eligible for open medical cards, according to her. She asked me what county we lived in and when I told her she explained it was practically impossible for us to find a provider who will accept the card in our county, but she gave me a list of providers who *might* accept her. I replied that it sucks I can’t get coverage for her.
Her reply was, “well she DOES have coverage”.
Fine. On paper she has “coverage” but in the real world she has diddly. But hey, I can take her to the ER anytime I want with this card.
That’s incredibly screwed up. There are thousands of children in foster care in this state. Some are in foster care for years. If all these children can get is a medical card that allows them to go to the ER for routine medical treatment, there’s something seriously wrong. We’d happily put her on our own private insurance but we can’t since she’s a foster child and not legally our child.
I started down the list of providers she gave me anyway. All of the providers very graciously declined to accept a new patient on an open medical card. One was pretty up front saying the state pays so little that they can only accept so many or they wouldn’t be able to pay their own bills. The seventh one I called gave me the name and number of a clinic who always accepts patients with state provided medical coverage. ALWAYS. I promptly called them and sure enough… I can take her there if needed and they will gladly accept the medical card. I now know what my (apparently only) option is.
Do you see the issue here?
Some random receptionist at some random clinic not associated with the state of Washington medicaid system was able to solve my issue in approximately three minutes. And the clinic she referred me to wasn’t even on the list the state worker gave me. FAIL!
AND THEN. A while later I get return call from a medical case worker in my city who explained that everything I have been told the last two days about our foster child’s medical eligibility may not be true. Our foster child is supposedly not “coded” as a foster child in their medical system because she comes from out of state. At that point I really just wanted to tell them I don’t care what’s true or not true and who’s doing what, when, why and how. It’s clear to me that no one in the state of Washington even knows where to direct a phone call (one of them tried to have me call the originating state explaining that they should be providing medical coverage) about this let alone figure out how this child should be ‘coded’ in their system or what coverage she is or isn’t eligible for. None of that is my concern at this point. What I did request was if they could figure out a way to get her on some sort of coverage plan instead of this open card, please do. (There IS a coverage plan through the state that providers will take, just not for foster kids I guess). Then we can keep her current doctor. I doubt that will happen, though.
I needed to be sure I had somewhere to take my foster child if she needs a prescription refilled, or needs any type of medical care besides making tax payers pay for an expensive ER trip. And a non-involved helpful receptionist at a private clinic gave me the information I needed. If only I had called her first.
Disclaimer: I do not mean any offense to the individual WA state case workers I spoke with in the last two days. But there is a clear breakdown in the system. Especially in the area of communication.
P.S. I haven’t even started researching the dental care yet. Wish me luck…
Jack 'n Tracie ~ Life 
Did you ever get anywhere with the WA ‘open card’? My daughter has autism and her autism dr encouraged me to get her on SSI. Well, I did. And that meant we lost all our doctors because we got WA ‘open card’ which no one takes! And the DSHS worker also told me the same thing, “ma’am, all I can tell you is that you WILL have coverage,” and that’s all she would say over and over until I eventually just hung up. It’s terrible that a child becomes disabled and then loses all access to the medical care that is desperately needed! And I’m a single parent, which really just tops it all off.
No.. We got nowhere. But we have insurance through my husband’s job so we use that as primary and the card as secondary… which I think does nothing. Sorry to hear you’re going through all that!
I should clarify.. We adopted her so we were able to put her on our insurance. But before the adoption took place, she was pretty much only covered for emergency care since no one would take the state’s “open” insurance.
I found out how the “open card” system works. No one will take it at the door, so have to find a back door. Like have friends/family talk to their doctors about taking it as a favor, or ask if they know a pediatrician they can call on your behalf, or if you know someone who is a doctor, or know someone who knows someone who is a doctor. My mom was a medical office manager for 20 years. She said they didn’t like to take medicaid but if they got a call from another doctor asking them to take a medicaid patient, they had to do it because of an unwritten code of conduct. Basically, it’s all about who you know. They CAN take it, but just say that they can’t and give the impression it’s impossible. It’s a terrible system and terrible way to treat children, especially special needs children!
Good to know! Thanks for sharing. 🙂