Steven Brown, executive director of the ACLU of Rhode Island, today issued the following statement in response to U.S. District Judge William Smith’s appointment of retired attorney Deming Sherman as a special master to oversee the resolution of the State’s ongoing problems with UHIP:
“Given the State’s complete failure to resolve ongoing problems with the UHIP computer system, we are pleased that the Court has appointed a special master to compel the State into compliance. The State’s repeated and ongoing inability to timely provide needed assistance to hungry families is appalling. Today the court formally recognized this through the appointment of a special master.
“For too long, the State has pointed its finger at the UHIP vendor, Deloitte, but that does not put food on the table of Rhode Island’s poor. We are hopeful that the special master will take action in the near future to provide interim relief to hundreds of needy families while the broader problems of the UHIP fiasco are investigated and resolved.”
