Report: Health Department lays off 40 workers to privatize maternal and infant health care

Word is that the State Health Department laid off 40 social workers Monday, some with up to 24.5 years of state service.  They reportedly did this to privatize maternal and infant health care, a move that the Legislature had refused to sign off on this session.  Apparently, they believe they can do this administratively.

There's also word that the benefactor of the privatization would be Magnolia Health Plan.  Magnolia spent $240,000 on the lobbying services of Clare Hester and Henry Barbour in the last two years.

Some info on the outfit behind the child support privatization legislation

Here's how the Associated Press reported the details of the fraudulent service of process problem YoungWilliams had to deal with back in 2010:

According to Harris' order, Jernigan filed a sworn affidavit with the court clerk stating he served April Gray of Ocean Springs on May 6. But Gray was jailed at the Jackson County Adult Detention Center at the time and could not have received the document.  

YoungWilliams is a Jackson company that had a $23 million (contract) with the Mississippi Department of Human Services to seek child support court orders.  

The process servers claimed they delivered papers to people who were incarcerated and even to a woman who had been dead for two years, court records show. 

Now they want legislation that would put them in charge of overdue child support collection.

More on the privatization of child support collection

Earlier today, David posted on the House passing a bill that would privatize the collection of child support in Mississippi.  The Sun-Herald had a story on it today as well, and pointed out that lobbyists for YoungWilliams Child Support Services are behind the legislation.

That name rang a bell, but I couldn't remember why.  Then a fellow lawyer reminded me:  they were the outfit who hired process servers who lied about serving defendants in child support cases.