Enrollment in private, Medicaid-funded health insurance plans has jumped by 2,171 since the beginning of December, bringing the total number of Arkansans signed up for the plans to 61,374, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Human Services said Wednesday.
Those numbers include both people who completed the process on their own and those who were automatically assigned plans by the Human Services Department.
Meanwhile, the eligible adults who applied for the coverage but were assigned to traditional Medicaid programs because of their higher-risk health needs rose to 5,700, up from 5,432 at the beginning of the month.
The expansion, authorized by the federal healthcare overhaul law and approved by the state Legislature this year, extended eligibility for Medicaid to adults with incomes up to 138 percent of the poverty level - $15,860 for an individual or $32,500 for a family of four.
The change made about 250,000 people eligible for coverage that will start Jan.1. Enrollment began Oct. 1.
Nearly 74 percent - or 63,465 - of those who applied came from the state’s pool of recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps. In September, the Human Services Department sent out letters notifying those recipients of their eligibility for the Medicaid expansion and encouraging them to contact the department to enroll.
That window for enrolling in that easier route has been closed, and food-stamp recipients must now use the state’s regular portals to sign up.
“The federal government notified states this summer that there were certain strategies the states could utilize to more efficiently identify people who were eligible for Medicaid expansion. What they allowed us to do was use existing data, verified income data, that we had on the SNAP population to determine if they were eligible. It wasn’t the entire SNAP population,” Human Services Department spokesman Amy Webb said.
“We already had all the information on them that they would have put on the application. It was a one-time opportunity that made the process more efficient,” she said.
The remaining 22,876 people who applied for the coverage did so through a state website, access.arkansas.gov, by phone or on paper, the department’s figures indicate.
A total of 86,341 people in Arkansas have filed applications for what is known as the private option, an increase of more than 8,607 for the month to date. Of those, 72,361 have been determined eligible, Webb said. State legislation this year authorized the option, which uses federal Medicaid dollars to purchase private health insurance for poor Arkansans.
Those eligible are given 12 days to visit another state website, insureark.org, where they complete a survey designed to identify the medically fragile. Once they pass that step, those not found medically frail can then use the website to sign up for the plan.
Applicants who fail to choose a plan within 12 days are automatically assigned to a plan. They then have 30 days to switch plans if they choose to do so. After that, they have to wait one year to switch.
Webb did not have information on how many automatic assignments have been made to date.
The enrollment process through a federal website, healthcare.gov, has met with many software snags since its inception, causing lengthy delays and frustration. Webb said that as of Oct. 1, those problems have steadily been resolved and people have been able to freely apply.
“Once they are determined eligible, they are notified and sent to our website to complete the process. Both websites have been working. It is our understanding that insurance agencies have been able to do it as well,” Webb said.
Webb said the Human Services Department is pleased with the progress and the results of the program.
“For us, we now have over 86,000 Arkansans who are interested in getting health insurance. There’s an economic benefit to the state in that we will have less uncompensated care, a healthier workforce in the long term, and providers will be getting paid private insurance rates,” Webb said.
In addition to Medicaid assistance, many of the 500,000 Arkansans who lack insurance are expected to be eligible for tax-credit subsidies to help them buy insurance through the state exchange.
The tax-credit subsidies are available to those who don’t qualify for Medicaid and have incomes of less than 400 percent of the poverty level - $45,960 for an individual or $94,200 for a family of four.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 12/19/2013