Deborah Yetter

Louisville Courier Journal

The top official in charge of complaints at the Cabinet for Health and Family Services was fired one business day after he said he warned his bosses that people were so angry over problems with a new public benefits system that he feared some might become violent, endangering state workers.

Hundreds of callers have grown increasingly frustrated over the abrupt loss of benefits such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, said Norman "Chip" Ward, the former executive director of the cabinet's ombudsman's office.

Many are furious they can't reach anyone on a state hotline to handle questions about benefits they said were wrongly canceled under the new system know asBenefind.

"I expressed my concern that something bad was going to happen," Ward said in an interview Monday, adding he was worried an angry client might visit a local state benefit office and become violent. "It was really reaching a boiling point."

Among the cabinet officials Ward said he notified of his concerns on March 18 were Secretary Vickie Yates Glisson; Tim Feeley, deputy secretary; Adria Johnson, the commissioner of the Department for Community Based Services, which handles public benefits; and Steve Davis, the cabinet's chief of staff.

In an interview Friday, Davis declined to elaborate on Ward's dismissal, saying the decision to fire the ombudsman was "a personnel matter." Davis said he is acting as the current ombudsman.

Cabinet spokesman Doug Hogan, in an emailed statement Monday, said the cabinet does not comment on personnel matters.

But, "no one has been retaliated against for alerting cabinet leadership to problems we inherited from the previous administration," Hogan's statement said. "The search for a new ombudsman began months ago, before the rollout of Benefind.

Ward said that as a political appointee he lacks merit protection and Davis gave him no reason for firing him.

The Courier-Journal reported Friday that the Benefind system launched Feb. 29 has caused turmoil throughout the state, cutting off essential benefits to people who spend days or weeks calling a state hotline only to get a recorded message to call back at another time.

Ward said Glisson, in a March 18 conversation, expressed surprise that people were losing benefits and asked Ward to compile more information for her, which his staff began doing.

On the following Monday, March 21, Davis appeared in his office and told Ward his services were no longer needed. Davis asked him to vacate the office that day.

Davis didn't give him a reason "but it seems oddly coincidental," Ward said.

Ward, a non-merit employee appointed by former Gov. Steve Beshear, said he realizes he served at the pleasure of Gov. Matt Bevin, who took office Dec.8. But he was shocked to be fired one business day after he tried to alert officials to what he believes is a dangerous situation for state workers throughout Kentucky.

"It's just frightening," said Ward, 64, who had served in the job since 2010. "In six years, I'd never seen anything this bad."

Ward said he didn't hear any direct threats from callers but was concerned by the cursing, anger and desperation of people saying they didn't have food for their children or any way to pay for essential medication.

Hogan, in his statement, said the cabinet is aware of problems with the Benefind system but blamed them on the administration of Beshear, which began developing Benefind several years ago.

He said the cabinet is working to fix the problems, has increased staff at state benefit offices and has added security at some offices that lacked security.

"We recognize the inconvenience this has caused, and are taking all necessary steps to prevent our served population from losing any benefit because of the transition," his statement said.

Ward said he was particularly shocked that Davis told the Courier-Journal that he did not believe people were losing benefits when he had warned him and other officials that was exactly what was happening.

"No one that I know of is going to lose a benefit," Davis said Friday.

Ward disputed that claim.

"To say we didn't know anybody was losing their benefits is sort of outrageous," Ward said.

Rep. Joni Jenkins, a Shively Democrat and chairwoman of the House human services budget subcommittee, said she was disturbed to hear the cabinet, in the midst of the Benefind crisis, fired the ombudsman.

"Kill the messenger," Jenkins said Monday. "The problem isn't solved because they fired somebody. Ignoring this problem is not going to make it go away."

Jenkins said she and other lawmakers are increasingly concerned about the failure of the Bevin administration to address the obvious problems with Benefind.

Even more disturbing is that Ward feared potential harm to state workers, she said.

"I'm very concerned we are putting state workers at risk," she said.

People seeking help in person have overwhelmed state benefit offices. And the system, designed to work with Kentucky's healthbenefit exchange, kynect, has instead disrupted it, canceling coverage for scores of Kentuckians or locking them out of access to their accounts, health advocates said.

The volume of calls to the cabinet's ombudsman's office tripled to hundreds of calls per day, most callers voicing anger and concern about disruption of services under Benefind, Ward said. As many as 400 callers per day were unable to get through and left recorded messages, Ward said.

State officials have downplayed the problems, saying they are working to ease the transition to a new system that health advocates have described as a disaster. They also have pointed out that development of the Benefind system was begun several years ago under the Beshear administration.

"With a rollout of any system of this magnitude, there's going to be a transition problem," Davis said Friday.

Contact reporter Deborah Yetter at 502-582-4228 or at dyetter@courier-journal.com.

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