More than 340 people applied for health insurance through the Arkansas Medicaid program Tuesday and Wednesday, the first two days that applications were accepted under the expanded program, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Human Services said Thursday.
About 250,000 Arkansas adults with incomes of up to 138 percent of the poverty level - $15,860 for an individual or $32,500 for a family of four - are estimated to be eligible for Medicaid under the expansion of the program authorized by the 2010 federal health-care overhaul law and approved by the state Legislature this year.
Most of those who are approved for coverage will be able to sign up for a private insurance plan and have the premium paid by Medicaid, while those with high medical needs - about 10 percent of the 250,000 - will be covered under the traditional program, Human Services Department officials have said. Coverage will start Jan. 1.
A federal Internet portal allowing people to start the application process for plans offered on an insurance exchange remained clogged with traffic Thursday, but Arkansans were able to apply for Medicaid through a state website, access.arkansas.gov, or by calling a Human Services Department call center at (855)372-1084.
Human Services Department spokesman Kate Luck said 202 people submitted applications through the state website Tuesday and Wednesday, and 42 people applied by phone. In addition, 100 people submitted paper applications, she said.
Those applications come in addition to 55,443 adults who responded to letters sent last month to food-stamp recipients who the department determined are eligible for the expanded Medicaid program based on their incomes.
The letters, sent to 132,000 households, also identified 9,050 children who are eligible for Medicaid under the ARKids program, Human Services Department spokesman Amy Webb said this week.
The department enrolled 2,539 children as a result of responses to the letters, she said.
The adults will receive a letter this week directing them to a state website where they will answer a series of questions designed to determine whether they are “medically frail,” meaning they they have health conditions that would make them better suited for the state’s traditional Medicaid program, she said.
Those not determined to be medically frail will be able to choose a private plan offered on Arkansas’ health-insurance exchange. People who apply for coverage and are determined to be eligible but fail to choose a plan will be automatically assigned to one.
In a statement, Human Services Department Director John Selig called the response to the letter “incredible.”
“This clearly shows there was a need for the unique approach that Arkansas took to help ensure the lowest-income Arkansans have access to quality health insurance,” Selig said.
In addition to the Medicaid assistance, many of the 500,000 people in the state without insurance are expected to qualify for tax credit subsidies to help them buy coverage through the federal portal, which was overwhelmed with traffic after the start of the open enrollment period on Tuesday.
A reporter’s attempts to access the portal had been unsuccessful as of Thursday, the latest ones ending with the messages, “The System is down at the moment,” and, “An error occurred while processing your request.”
In a statement Thursday, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the agency is continuing to expand the capacity of the website to handle traffic.
It said 7 million people had visited the site during the first two days of enrollment.
The agency had not released numbers on enrollment as of Thursday.
Heather Haywood, a spokesman for the Arkansas Insurance Department, said Thursday afternoon that she had tried without success to navigate the federal portal and had not yet heard of anyone who had been able to use it to enroll.
Outreach workers hired by the Central Arkansas Library System to help people enroll also had not been able to access the portal Thursday, said Jennifer Chilcoat, the system’s head of human resources. Chilcoat said she also wasn’t able to navigate the portal.
“It might be working for somebody, but it’s apparently few and far between,” Chilcoat said.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 10/04/2013