ASAN – A health insurance company is facing the care of sick children and disabled children in Texas, accusations of spying on legislators in the state and ordinary citizens.
On Thursday, the Texas Pactson Prosecutor launched an investigation at Superior Healthplan, one day after a hot public hearing in the Capitol. They say that legislators in the House of Representatives Committee on handing over government competence, or Doug, have expressed monitoring practices, as they say, through a line.
During the session on Wednesday, the committee’s chairman, MP Giovanni Capriegelon, revealed that emails showing private rented investigators to obtain information about legislators and clients.
“I don’t think what any of us expected is a health insurance company that is often funded by taxpayers dollars in Texas, and that it will use some of these funds to employ investigators from the private sector, and that it will rent a special investigator to follow up or her child has been rejected from medical care,” Caprielon said.
“Horrific and disgusting”
For several months, KXAN investigators were working to verify the context and gain them about copies of the similar emails they obtained, which showed exchanges between Supreme CEO Mark Sanders and a group of employees known for investigations in the background. Email messages, which were sent in 2017 and 2019, revealed Sanders asking for “in -depth” reports of some of the legislators and various health care providers. In another exchange, a group representative confirms that they will not be able to obtain other specific divorce documents.
“Mr. Sanders, have you ever assigned a private investigator to dig in the background and financial or personal records of any government official in the state or his wife?” Capriegelon asked during the session.
“I have”, Sanders answered. “We have done what I call the general research, anything available to the public,” he added.
“Why do you go and manage the background examination, rent a special investigator to follow up, to search for the records of the people who are your customers?” Capregelon request.
Sanders replied: “First of all, I will say that we are no longer using this practice, and we haven’t done for several years.” “At that time, we really wanted to get information about these individuals, and nothing goes beyond what is available to us.”
KXAN has communicated with Superior Healthplan several times to comment and context about these exchanges, but it has not yet received a response.
KXAN also communicates with every legislator mentioned in the context or response, but many of them refused to comment on the registry, until the Wednesday committee session.
Representative Tony Tinterotle, R. Armington, told Sanders that he was “horrific and disgusting.”
“I had to depend and ask him, I am like,” Is this real? “I’m not joking. What do you have to say to that?”
Sanders replied, “I think the return in time, I think it was just an understanding of the interests and information we could realize – knowing when we meet with different individuals,” Sanders replied.
Throughout the hearing, Sanders insisted that the company only sought to obtain information to the public about the people they were dealing with in their work.
Tinderholt again called: “I don’t agree. I wanted the leverage and thought you would use it.”
He and other legislators expressed their concern that the company sought the leverage to win future state contracts or to discredit their customers who ask to pay the legitimate insurance claims.
“I am embarrassed because you will sit in front of us and that you will try to demonstrate as if you are collecting information just to get it. You do not collect this type of information for not using it.”
“An ongoing daily battle”
Superior Healthplan is one of the many private companies that manages various Medicaid programs in Texas, under a system known as “managed care”. The state represents the general dollars of the private sector to manage the care for many Texas with low income, elderly or disabled children.
One of these programs, known as Star Kids, provides Medicaid benefits for young people with disabilities. The state delivered it to the career system in 2016.
Since then, some families in the program say they have noticed changes in the availability and quality of care, according to the founder of the fragile Advocacy Protect Texas group. Hannah Mihat, a mother who turned forward, spent hours in Capitol since then, on behalf of these families.
“It is a continuous daily battle for families to try to keep their child care,” she said.
2018 investigations series by Dallas Morning News Mehta’s work overview. He also detailed the profits made by some companies that manage the careful care system in the state, with the rejection or delay of vital medications and treatment for thousands of Texas patients and disabled. Dozens of draft laws were presented in the legislative session that followed, aimed at addressing open problems in the series.
In an interview last year, Mihata KXan told that she believed more censorship is necessary.
“I think that many politicians will be very annoyed by seeing the extent of influence and dirty tactics that continue behind the scenes – facing families on a daily basis.”
“Get down this”
KXAN also obtained a copy of a report of fraud, waste and abuse prepared for Superior Healthplan in 2018. She detailed personal information about some health care workers and ordinary citizens in the investigations in Dallas Morning News – including social security numbers, personal dates, and even aerial photos of the mother’s property that appeared in the series, whose child was deprived of His care.
At the DOGE session on Wednesday, MP Capriglione continued to accuse Sanders and the company “Going Love” of journalists who worked in this series.
Ellen Troxicicier, a member of the center of Texas, accused of misuse of taxpayer dollars, with her failure to provide the best care for Texas children.
“Now we are talking here with a company that has received millions of dollars in taxpayer money through Medicaid contracts that have used these funds to employ investigators from the private sector to follow up on patients and legislators who ask questions about what is going on HECK,” said Troxicler.
“We are all trying to do our best, as you know, take care of our children, pay insurance, manage the tasks, and do all the things that we have to do, we pay for insurance, and we expect to see good medical care. It is an ongoing process.
Sanders once again stated that emails have indicated investigations for several years. “We have not used this practice since then,” said Sanders.
“Why do we believe in that?” Request Troxicrire.
“I don’t know. I just say that,” Sanders replied.
In that interview last year, Mihata KXan told that she wanted to see an investigation in how exactly used public dollars by companies that run the program and “whether they will go to the children they go to.”
In his announcement on Thursday, Prosecutor Backston said that an investigation into “possible illegal procedures” would start immediately.
“I will reach the bottom of this, reveal any illegal activity, and carry the responsible actors responsible. Justice will be offered,” the edition said.
John Thomas John Thomas and Nabil Redna He contributed to this report.