Resident with DC Medicaid claims he had his health insurance mistakenly canceled

WASHINGTON - Medicaid recipients across the District may want to double check their health insurance benefits. FOX 5 has received a tip saying health insurance was mistakenly canceled for many Medicaid participants.

Northeast D.C. resident George Lavoie said he went to schedule a doctor's appointment and was informed his health insurance was canceled. He said he receives benefits through Medicaid.

Lavoie went to an Medicaid service center in Southeast D.C. where he said he was told a computer glitch is to blame for the health insurance cancellation.

He also said there were hundreds of others facing the same situation and Medicaid recipients were apparently not given any notice about the reported policy cancellation.

Lavoie said the computer error happened on Dec. 30 and he was told his health insurance could be reinstated as early as Tuesday.

"They told me until they can rectify the problem, I don't have health insurance until they get it reestablished," Lavoie said. "If it's a click of a button to cancel your policy, it should be a click of a button to reinstate it immediately. Telling me it might be Tuesday to reinstate it meanwhile I have no health insurance until Tuesday possibly because there are hundreds of people that right now don't have insurance, that's not acceptable."

On Friday night, a spokesperson for D.C.'s Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services said in a statement:

"There is no basis for the claim that a computer glitch or any other technical issues resulted in hundreds of District Medicaid enrollees wrongfully losing coverage. DC Medicaid communicates with enrollees about recertification of eligibility throughout the year. Medicaid enrollees and their providers who need resolution on eligibility can call our customer service number at 202-727-5355 or the DC Health Care Ombudsman at 202-724-7491."