WASHINGTON — A D.C. social services representative made low-income residents pay her to register for a locally-funded healthcare system, despite the process being completely free. Friday morning, she was sentenced to 24 months in prison.
Ruth Nivar worked for the District Department of Human Services, processing applications and renewal applications for Medicaid, as well as D.C. Healthcare Alliance and the Immigrant Children’s Alliance (ICP), two programs for low-income residents who do not qualify for Medicaid or Medicare that are funded by the local government.
D.C. government does not charge any fees to apply for any of those three programs. Yet, beginning as early as 2018, Nivar began instructing people who came to her for help to pay her, sometimes hundreds of dollars, to process their insurance coverage…