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Durham woman receives four Medicaid cards intended for others

A month after the state said it mistakenly mailed nearly 49,000 Medicaid cards to the wrong recipients, a Durham woman says she recently received four cards meant for someone else.

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DURHAM, N.C. — A month after the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said it mistakenly mailed nearly 49,000 Medicaid cards for children to the wrong people, a Durham woman says she recently received four envelopes – including one that wasn't sealed – mailed to her address.

"It was a Medicaid card, so I figured these are all Medicaid cards that some family needs, but they're at my house, and they don't belong here," Cheryl Shiflett said Sunday.

The cards included the children's name, birthdate, Medicaid ID number and healthcare provider.

DHHS officials said they mailed out new cards at the end of last month and that the problem was fixed.

Spokeswoman Julie Henry said Sunday that Shiflett's report is an isolated incident and that the timing is coincidental and unrelated to the second mailing.

She said DHHS officials have already retrieved the cards from Shiflett and will work with the Durham County Department of Social Services to find out what might have happened and to correct it.

Since applications for Medicaid are taken by local departments of social services, Henry said, it could have been a clerical error, a miscommunication or the information provided by the applicant was incorrect.

 

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