State Ombudsman Bernardo Granwehr says complaints to his office about government services were down in the latest fiscal year compared to the past two.
Granwehr says many of the complaints from inmates revolved around health-related issues and conditions of confinement. He says some of the complaints were justified, but for many, they advised the person making the complaint to first go through any grievance process.
While the number of complaints dropped, they were still the third most his office received behind each of the last two years. Granwehr says outside of complaints about corrections there were concerns raised about the Health and Human Services Department He says families of Medicaid members were concerned they didn’t get enough information that the estate of the person covered would have to repay those fees to the state when they died.
Granwehr says that information in the enrollment notices and letters let people make an informed decision prior to signing up for those Medicaid benefits. He says they don’t want to discourage complaints to his office, but says everyone needs to follow the processes of the government agency first.
The nearly six thousand cases in the last fiscal year was a drop of seven-and-a-half percent from the previous year.
