Taxpayers may have paid $53 million too much for CHIP
Source: Elizabeth Pierson Hernandez, The Monitor (TX), July 31, 2007 - 8:40PM
The state paid more than $53 million in questionable claims to the insurance company that administered the Children’s Health Insurance Program to rural Texans for four years, according to a private audit.
The audit report, obtained by Valley Freedom Newspapers on Tuesday, raises new concerns about the contract between the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and Clarendon National Insurance Co., which has been the subject of scrutiny for at least three years.
The audit found the company may have overcharged the state by as much as 37.66 percent between 2000 and 2004.
...... The report is particularly troublesome considering other problematic contracts the state health commission has entered into in recent years, including the nearly $900 million contract with Accenture that was canceled earlier this year, she said.