Program helps both vets, state save money

A state employee and Vietnam War veteran is on a mission to help fellow veterans get the health benefits they are due, save the state millions of dollars and crack down on welfare fraud.

Bill Allman, veterans program manager for the Washington state Department of Social and Health Services in Olympia, regularly patrols the state’s nursing homes looking for veterans receiving Medicaid, which partially uses state funding, instead of programs funded by the U.S. departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense.

“We’re discovering a lot of retired military that haven’t applied for TRICARE,” Allman said, referring to the Defense Department’s health care program for active duty members of the military, military retirees and their eligible dependents. “What we’re trying to do is get them enrolled for the benefits that they’ve earned.”

They have already saved state programs more than $1 million and have identified more than 3,000 veterans who need assistance.

As a bonus, Allman and Tim Dahlin, DSHS’s other veterans program manager, have identified 3,100 people who have been improperly receiving Medicaid benefits in Washington as well as in other states.

DSHS estimates the program Allman and Dahlin administer could save the state more than $22 million. It recently earned the 2004 Governor’s Award for Customer Service.

The work they are doing would not be possible without a federal data-matching program called the Public Assistance Reporting Information System. PARIS is an information exchange system designed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Administration for Children and Families.

It matches information from state public assistance agencies with federal records from the VA and Defense departments as well as data from Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and the Food Stamp program.

So far, 29 states have joined the PARIS program. The more states that join, the greater the chance Washington state will find welfare double-dippers, said Allman, who represents the West Coast on the program’s board of directors.

For this reason Washington recently helped convince Oregon to join the PARIS system.

“PARIS does not involve any cost to the state, but it should pay off in savings for us because we share a long border with Oregon,” Allman said, “and we have lots of overlap in areas like Vancouver-Portland.”

Allman said he is trying to get California and Montana on board and was mystified that Idaho officials have not returned his calls.

Though the PARIS system was designed to prevent welfare abuse, Washington state also saw the benefit of identifying veterans who could be receiving VA benefits rather than from Medicaid. Allman said many, especially those who never fought in a war, may not realize what they are entitled to.

Allman said DSHS has entered a partnership with the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs to find vets who may be eligible for prescription drug benefits, long-term health care, home loans, counseling or training. In some cases, a veteran may be entitled to a pension without knowing it.

Matching veterans to VA benefits also has the potential to free up millions in state-administered Medicaid for use by non-veterans in need.

“We want to make sure that if Veterans Affairs isn’t going to do the outreach, we are going to do it for them,” Allman said.