The Case of the Locked File – A guest post by Cyn

I have worked as a social worker in my state for 15 years. In that role, I determine eligibility for financial assistance and help clients apply for SSI when appropriate. This is why I found Palinoia’s excellent post on the Palins and a possible insurance dilemma so fascinating. Her research was terrific, and I hear there is more to come. But for now, I want to add my two cents, and reveal what I think is a fascinating find, something I alluded to in an earlier comment.

Consider this:  Palinoia theorized about Medicaid/Denali care, and that because of her parents’ income levels, Bristol would not have qualified for coverage as their minor child if she were pregnant.

I am thinking that had Trig not been born with Down syndrome, Palinoia would be correct. But in my experience, due to Trig’s medical condition, he was at birth categorically eligible for Medicaid. For example, any new born weighing less than 2lbs 5ozs is SDI eligible. Other medical issues, such as under developed lungs, prematurity and birth defects can also qualify a newborn for coverage.

But first, a little background on Medicaid. The program is a joint State/Federal entitlement program. Each state has a lot of discretion on how the program is administered, however, there are a few federal rules that all the states must adhere to. Federal statues and laws always supercede state statues and laws in the administration of entitlement programs.

There are a few situations where federal law mandates that the only criterion for Medicaid eligibility is the medical condition.

It would not matter who Trig’s birth mother was, his medical cost would be covered, in my experience. On the day Trig was born, a hospital social worker would have filled out an application and sent it along with the doctor’s note and diagnosis to the Social Security Administration. If there was private insurance, the hospital would bill it first and then bill Medicaid for what the private insurance did not cover.

Now here’s where it gets really interesting. In my professional life, I have access to the Social Security administration database. SSA database covers all your personal information with the exception of credit history and credit scores. While doing a non-related search, I discovered that the Palin family file (Sarah,Todd, all 5 kids, and Bristol’s son Tripp) is locked with an alert in place. This means that the file is password-protected and if someone tries to break the password an alert will be generated up the chain of command. If you get caught, you get fired.

In my experience, having a file locked is a rare occurrence. A few exceptions would be the President of the United States and his extended family. For FBI and CIA field officers and some other high-ranking federal workers, the locks are in place to protect the families.

I do not live in AK so I cannot speak in absolutes, but where I live, only the Governor and the head of DSHS can order a file locked on the state’s system. And there needs to be a very good reason for a lock to be put in place. Makes sense when you think about it: most state employees would request a lock if they could! After all, who wants their co/worker’s to have that kind of access to their private information.

But I did an experiment and looked up 30 out of 50 United States Governors. And guess what I found? I found zero locks. Zero. And I feel fairly certain that the other 19 Governors would not have a lock - only ex-governor Sarah Palin.

So what does this mean? Well, to me it means that Palin went to some trouble to lock her file and to add an alert.

There is something there she doesn’t want anyone to know. And anyone who tries to find out gets tagged and fired. That’s a serious deterrent. And a real safeguard.