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Last summer, when the political debate revolved on the future of the Georgia experiment with the work requirements of Medicaid, Governor Brian Kemp held a press conference to present a three -minute testimonial video with a mechanic who works in classic cars.
Luke Seorn, a 54 -year -old boy from the rural area of Jefferson, became the de facto face of Georgia’s routes for coverage, Kemp’s insurance program for Georgians Insidents. In a soft southern raffle, Seorn explained how to have insurance had improved his life in the year he had legs and rolled up: “The roads are a great program that sacrifices health insurance to low -income professionals like me.”
Kemp praises routes as an innovative way to reduce the high adult rate without state insurance while government spending accumulates, maintaining the program as an example for other states led by Republicans anxious to institute medical work requirements.
But in the nine months since the video testimony of Seaborn was launched, his opinion on Pathways has collapsed. Its benefits have been canceled, twice, he said, due to the bureaucratic bureaucracy.
“I used to think about the roads as a blessing,” said the Current and Propublic. “Now, I’ve finished that.”
Instead of a lasting symbol of success, the Seaborn experience illustrates why the program struggles to earn traction, even when the state spends millions of dollars in the Burnish Pathways brand. The current and the Propublic previously reported that many of the approximately 250,000 adults of powerful low income for the health insurance program struggle to register or maintain coverage.
The policy of the roads was not in the mind of Seaborn when he received a phone call last summer from an insurance executive who manages Pathways customers. One of the first Georgians to register in the program in 2023, Seorn had written a letter thanking his insurance provider for covering a procedure for his back pain. Amerigroup Community Care executive wanted to know: Would you participate in a promotional video for Pathways?
Seborn, a governor’s supporter, said yes without hesitation. Shortly after, Kemp’s press secretary, Garrison Douglas, arrived at her car repair workshop, located a few miles from the hometown of the governor, and spent hours filming in the garage full of vintage Ford and Chevy trucks and hand painted service station.
A trained chemical engineer, Seorn had renounced his corporate work to embrace his dream of repairing classic cars. But the realities of owning a small company made that path difficult, Seorn said, especially when it came to assume the cost of health insurance for you and your son. The roads facilitated the way, he said.
Sebanorn said he was surprised when the governor called him by name later in the duration of the press conference, which a testimonial video was launched. I hoped to be the unique face of the roads.
For November, thought, Seorn met some of the problems that other Georgians have graduated his opinion on the roads. Seorn said he had registered his work hours in the online system once it is necessary. But its benefits were canceled after it failed to complete a new form that said that the State had added without adequate warning. Sebanorn said the form requested the same information that had been sending every month, only in a different format. The State Medicaid agency did not answer the questions about the Seaborn experience or the new form.
He said he called the same insurance executive who had asked him to participate in the testimony. She told him that he would have lunch with one of Kemp’s AIDS that day and promised to help, he recalled. In 24 hours, SeaEbit said, its benefits were restored and a representative of the Division of Family and Children Services of Georgia, which manages federal benefit programs, called to apologize.
Douglas said the governor’s office “had no participation in the case of Mr. Seorn.” The insurance company did not respond to requests for comments.
The registered of the roads must send documents every month, which shows that they had completed the necessary requirements for coverage: 80 hours of work, study or will. But the State says that it is not verifying the information at a base of months, only the registration of duration and in the annual renewal.
Sebanorn said that after his coverage was restored, his insurance company told him that he would no longer have to present his work hours monthly; The next time you need to present this documentation would be the duration of your annual re -registration. However, Seorn said he enrolled for text notifications and email of the Pathways program to be surprised if the requirements changed again.
Even so, the technical and more bureaucracy problems caused him to lose coverage once again, he said. He stopped receiving texts from the Pathways program in February. When he logged in the digital platform in early March to ensure that everything was in order, a notice informed him that its benefits would be rescinded on April 1. The reason: the presentation of an annual income statement had been lost. He said the surprise requirement had appeared on the digital platform even though its coverage was not renewal.
“My head exploded,” he said. “I made a text message or an email. I did what I was supposed to, but that was good.”
Seorn said he went ahead and presented the information, although it was late. He tried to call his insurance provider again for an explanation, and help. He also communicated with the Division of Family Services and Children. This time, however, he said no one called him.
In April, Seorn paid out of his pocket for the prescription medications and his son, an additional $ 40 that said it is difficult to pay.
Ellen Brown, spokesman for the Division of Family Services and Children of Georgia, did not say why Seorn’s benefits were completed.
“We regret to hear that this happened and we are investigating how we can serve our clients better and solve the communication gaps in the future,” Brown said in a written statement on Friday. “Every Georgian who seeks our services is important, and we take matters very seriously.”
Meanwhile, Seorn received a phone call that day from the same division of representative of family services and children who had apologized to him after the paths expelled last autumn. He said she should make sure she recovered her coverage. The representative did not respond to a request for comments from the current and propublic.
On Monday night, Seorn received a text message to alert it to a notification on the Pathways digital platform. Session logged in: a notice confirmed that he had forwarded his legs, a change of fortune that accredited the questions of the current and propublicic to state officials about his situation because he had renounced Alreamy to the contact people to obtain help.
“I am very frustrated with all this trip,” Seorn said. “I am grateful for the coverage. But what I do not understand is that they leave me as a fungus in the dark and do not feed me anything, without information, for more than a month.”
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