County and CA Department of Health Care sued for long delays in providing low income residents with mental healthcare

 

Yesterday, I received this tip via email.

"Dear Mr. Chiv, Our lawsuit was just filed last week, and I do not know of any other news outlet that has picked up this story yet." 

"Humboldt County’s Department of Health and Human Services fails to provide the County’s Medi-Cal residents with the specialty mental health care that they need. State and federal law require Humboldt County, along with every other county in the State, to provide Medi-Cal patients with any specialty mental health services that are medically necessary within ten to fifteen business days of a patient’s request. However, Humboldt County knowingly maintains a mental health system that places Medi-Cal patients on indefinite waitlists, causing patients to wait more than six months for essential mental health care."

This is the first paragraph from the introduction in the petition for writ of administrative mandate and mandate.

Humboldt County and the California Department of Health Care Services have 30 days to file a response. California is required to do an audit every three years Humboldt County was required to have a corrective plan three years ago. I did speak with Mr. Ted Mumford, the attorney from Legal Services of Northern California and will be doing some follow up posts.

I am still waiting for County Counsel to answer their part of my PRA request to see which Humboldt Deputy County Counsel will be handling this matter. Thanks  Cati Gallardo, Public Information Specialist for the County Administrative Office who answered the CAO and BOS portion to my request on 3/21.

"Hi John,

Thanks again for submitting your request for public records. It is currently anticipated that this matter will be added to the Board's Tuesday, March 26 meeting agenda as a closed session item."

Kristin Wise, a resident of Eureka filed this lawsuit last week against Humboldt County and the California Department of Health Care Services in Sacramento Superior Court.

The lawsuit is regarding long delays in providing low income residents with essential mental health care. California law requires counties to provide a therapy appointment within 10 days and a psychiatry appointment within 15 days for those on Medi-Cal who need those services. 

The lawsuit alleges that Humboldt County repeatedly told its residents over the past several years that it had a waitlist of over six months for therapy, and up to two months for psychiatry appointments. The plaintiff waited over 18 months for talk therapy and medication management from the County.

Once again, this County and Board of Supervisors ignored years of being alerted to the issues and could have avoided this lawsuit.

I am not adding the entire document. I have included some  pages. 

When you read the entire detailed complaint, you see one example of the disdain and suffering that is typical of overpaid County department heads, multiple term Humboldt Supervisors Rex Bohn and Mike Wilson, DHHS Director Connie Beck who is just another female Crandall. There are County employees who are on Medi Cal. DHHS is so short staffed, people's paperwork does not get processed and they use basics such as food and healthcare. There is greed in the private sector that makes this a Welfare county and the people who fund people like Rex are just as culpable. It is the overpaid bureaucrats and their salaries who take away from the funds people desperately need. Legal Services of Northern California does the work not a single lawyer will do in a County where it is desperately needed and to advocate for people who need it the most.

You can download and read the corrective plan. I have included the first two pages.