Thousands of Georgians who have languished in bureaucratic limbo for more than six months are one step closer to learning whether they will get health coverage through Medicaid.
Nearly 92,000 low-income Georgians who applied for insurance through the federal Health Insurance Marketplace learned that they may be eligible for Medicaid. Their application data was supposed to be seamlessly transferred to the state electronically, with information such as names, income and Social Security numbers already verified.
But that didn’t happen, because the federal and state computers couldn’t talk to each other — one of a host of technological problems that stymied marketplace sign-ups early on.
This week, the state Department of Community Health said that on May 1 it finally started receiving all the information it needs to determine if these Georgians should indeed get Medicaid coverage. Still, many will have to wait a bit longer.
“There is still missing information that must be reviewed and completed manually,” said Kallarin Richards, a spokeswoman for the state Medicaid agency. “These applications will be processed as quickly as possible.”
As of Friday morning, the department had received data for a little over 40,000 applicants deemed Medicaid-eligible, with information on about 2,000 people arriving every hour, Richards said. That could add tens of thousands of people to Georgia’s Medicaid rolls.
The program already provides health care coverage to 1.7 million low-income children, pregnant women, the elderly and disabled. Those added to the rolls through the marketplace must qualify under the same standards that were in place before the Affordable Care Act took effect. Some states have chosen to open Medicaid to more residents by relaxing the income requirement, but Georgia did not take that path.
Although Georgians identified as Medicaid-eligible have waited nearly seven months for a final determination, they are better off than their peers in some other states.
Those states still have not resolved the communication problems between their computer systems and the federal system, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
“Some states are still finishing their development and testing, and we are actively working with them to enable transfers as quickly as possible,” CMS spokeswoman Emma Sandoe said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Friday.
It’s good news that the state finally has the information it needs and is making progress, said Cindy Zeldin, executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, a nonprofit advocacy group. Some families who explored coverage on HealthCare.gov found out their children had always been eligible for Medicaid or its companion program, PeachCare for Kids, she said.
Now, they can finally get that coverage.
Zeldin emphasized that while open enrollment for private insurance bought on the marketplace is now closed, people can sign up for Medicaid throughout the year.
“This has been a somewhat rocky process,” she said. “Nevertheless, at the end of open enrollment, more than 300,000 Georgians enrolled in private plans, and thousands more will enroll in Medicaid or PeachCare for Kids this year.”
