Membership in the District’s low-income health care program is soaring beyond anyone’s expectations, forcing the D.C. Department of Health to divert millions of dollars and spurring D.C. Council leadership to question whether the effort is being adequately monitored.

In the last month, Mayor Adrian Fenty has sought to shift roughly $17 million into the D.C. Healthcare Alliance, the District’s locally funded safety-net program for those uninsured adults, including illegal immigrants, who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid.