To: The Illinois State House, The Illinois State Senate, and Governor J.B. Pritzker
Stop rules that will wrongfully deny benefits!
DHS Secretary James Dimas is promoting rules for appealing a denial or cancellation of benefits (39 Illinois Register, May 29), that:
• Eliminate fair and impartial hearings, and put more of a burden on the person filing the appeal;
• Do not assure due process, fair notice, consumers’ access to their own records or accommodation to people with disabilities. Privatization of Medicaid Redeterminations and ‘task-based’ assembly lines have greatly increased the numbers of eligible people being wrongfully cancelled. These proposed rules add to the harm of budget cuts by making successful appeals almost impossible.
We call on DHS Secretary James Dimas and Governor Rauner and Illinois Legislators to:
• Drop these proposed rules, and start over with clearer notice and an aim to make the process user-friendly;
• Put the ‘HUMAN’ first in Human Services, with responsive, accessible, fully staffed and person-centered DHS offices.
• Eliminate fair and impartial hearings, and put more of a burden on the person filing the appeal;
• Do not assure due process, fair notice, consumers’ access to their own records or accommodation to people with disabilities. Privatization of Medicaid Redeterminations and ‘task-based’ assembly lines have greatly increased the numbers of eligible people being wrongfully cancelled. These proposed rules add to the harm of budget cuts by making successful appeals almost impossible.
We call on DHS Secretary James Dimas and Governor Rauner and Illinois Legislators to:
• Drop these proposed rules, and start over with clearer notice and an aim to make the process user-friendly;
• Put the ‘HUMAN’ first in Human Services, with responsive, accessible, fully staffed and person-centered DHS offices.
Why is this important?
Despite greater human need – record inequality, increased poverty and long-term joblessness – management at the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) wants to make it harder for eligible people to get or keep benefits (Medicaid, SNAP, home care, etc.).