Chaos in State's Welfare System Causes Cambridge Payment Delay

The Cambridge City Council learned last night that the massive welfare snafu which has embroiled the entire state has had its effects on Cambridge.

"I don't think the Massachusetts bill (giving the state control of welfare) is a very good one, and we are reaping the whirlwind," said City Manager James L. Sullivan.

Cambridge has $1,081,000 worth of welfare bills outstanding and only $269,735 with which to pay them. Many of these bills are more than a year overdue and most of them are owed to druggists, dentists and doctors. The City will get some of what it owes from the federal government, but at least $240,00 will have to come out of the City treasury.

When the state took over the welfare system last July, it took most of the most-experienced social workers with it. As a result Cambridge has only a few workers to process thousands of bills which were incurred before July. The resultant overload of work is the reason for the long delays expected before the backlog is cleared up.

"We are trying to examine each bill carefully," said Sullivan, "but there are many problems and these things take time to investigate."

Sullivan cited cases where people went to Massachusetts General Hospital, claimed that they couldn't pay their bills and Mass. General billed the city for the money. However, said Sullivan, in many cases the people would have much of their bill paid by Blue Cross-Blue Shield, which indicates that they were gainfully employed and therefore perhaps ineligible for Cambridge relief. "These are the kinds of problems we face," he said.

In the case of some doctors, dentists or druggists the City owes as much as $1,000. These people have often been required to take out a bank loan to make up for the revenue they have lost in the payment delay. Councillor Thomas J. Danehy pointed out that in such cases the claimants might be able to sue the City for the interest on such a bank loan.