The woman was 92 years old, a Spanish speaker and homebound. She had needed home-based health care for several months, but wasn’t in any position to advocate for herself. That’s where the George Washington University Law School’s Health Insurance Counseling Project (HICP) stepped in. Law students reviewed the woman’s case and her Medicare benefits and intervened with a home health care agency, arranging for a health aide to visit her home on a regular basis.
“We often see people who are particularly vulnerable,” explained GW Law Professor Suzanne Jackson, co-director of HICP. “We do everything from getting wheelchairs for homebound seniors to straightening out major billing tie-ups.”
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a federal organization that funds State Health Insurance Assistance Programs in every state and in the District of Columbia, recently named HICP the highest-performing program of its kind in the nation. Since 1994, GW Law School students working at HICP have helped thousands of D.C. residents decipher their Medicare benefits and gain access to health care.
“Our students have gained important professional legal skills and expertise while helping us serve more than 3,000 seniors and people with disabilities each year,” Ms. Jackson said. “Many of these individuals would not get needed care or medicines without our help.”
Program staff also includes co-director Chris DeYoung, who worked for many years at the Medicare Rights Center before coming to GW, and senior attorney Michael Knipmeyer. Eight GW law students work each semester to assist clients—free of charge—in obtaining public health care benefits and resolving problems with private and public health insurance programs. The HICP is part of the GW Law School’s Jacob Burns Community Legal Clinics, which celebrate 40 years of service in 2011.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services evaluated the HICP program and others like it across 10 different performance measures, including the percentage of people with Medicare served and the percentage of clients who have low incomes, disabilities or who need help with prescription drug insurance plans.
In addition to sorting out insurance problems, HICP also routinely helps people who need emergency access to drugs prescribed by their doctors, Ms. Jackson said. The GW law students often work on evenings and weekends to help these clients get their medications, as running out of a prescribed medication can be a serious health risk.
Law School Dean Paul Schiff Berman said he is proud of HICP’s work and the recognition it has gained.
“My heartiest congratulations go out to everyone involved,” he said. “As we continue to grow and expand legal services at the GW Law School, this is not only an honor, but it is encouraging to be acknowledged for our ongoing commitment to serving the community around us while providing our students with practical and meaningful legal experience.”