Department of Health

Eligibility of Children Enrolled in Child Health Plus B (Follow-Up Report)

In New York State’s Child Health Plus B Program, which is administered by the Department of Health, free or low-cost health insurance is provided to low-income children who are not eligible for Medicaid. In audit 2005-S-58, we examined whether ineligible children were enrolled in the Child Health Plus B Program and identified more than 20,000 ineligible enrollments. The enrollments were ineligible because the children were either simultaneously enrolled in Medicaid, covered by other health insurance, or eligible for coverage under the State’s public employee health benefits plan. We determined that, during the six-month period covered by our analysis, the premiums paid by the State on behalf of these ineligible enrollments exceeded $2.6 million. We recommended the Department investigate the ineligible enrollments, recover all overpayments, and improve its controls to prevent such enrollments in the future. When we followed up on these matters with Department officials, we found that they had made good progress in implementing our audit recommendations.

For a complete copy of Report 2008-F-26 click here.
For a copy of the 30-day response click here.