Review of Medical Assistance Payments Under the Refugee Resettlement Program in Florida

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

This final report identified 8,445 refugees who potentially received cash assistance payments after their period of eligibility had expired. From a randomly selected sample of 200 refugees that received Refugee Cash Assistance payments, we determined that 88 also received Refugee Medical Assistance (RMA). Of the 88, 64 refugees had payments totaling $30,174 made on their behalf after their eligibility had expired. Projecting these payments to the population, we estimate that the amount of RMA payments made past the period of eligibility was $409,759.

The ineligible payments occurred because the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) did not have edits in its computerized system to identify and automatically terminate refugees whose period of eligibility had expired.

We are recommending that DCF make a financial adjustment of $409,759 for the ineligible medical assistance payments. We are also recommending procedural changes to improve DCF's administration of the Refugee Resettlement Program.