BOISE, Idaho — Inside Idaho’s Department of Health and Welfare there is heavy lifting on intricate data, specifically on Medicaid.
“Right now, we are unwinding,” said Shane Leach, Administrator of the Division of Welfare.
Leach says with Medicaid rules in place the state saw more and more people join Medicaid.
“So, starting in 2020, our enrollment went from about 300,000 up to 450,000 participants starting here recently in February, with the end of the public health emergency. We have now started the process to do renewals on all those individuals to see if they're still eligible for coverage or not, because we were unable to roll and during the pandemic,” Leach said.
So if you are on Medicaid, Idaho is working to confirm you are still eligible.
“These are individuals we're trying to get in touch with. We want them to contact the department. They need to do a renewal. If they don't complete a renewal. They could risk losing their benefits. We do it over the phone, collect their information, current income information, where they work, family size, household composition, other information. We take that process that and determine the eligibility,” Leach said.
Idaho lawmakers drew attention to Medicaid enrollment and cost during the legislative session, some were hoping to see enrollment dropped in a significant way which could lead to savings for Idaho.
So far in their evaluations, out of 153,857 total people in Medicaid protection: 48,005 re-evaluations processed, 18,980 determined eligible and 29,025 determined ineligible. Lawmakers still need to be patient with final numbers.
“It's a lot of work and obviously requires the involvement from our participants right to go through and complete the renewals. I think we have a really good, planned timeframe. Other states are a little bit different. Some are taking longer, some are sooner. We started right away based off those kinds of different factors, right, that apply to that to make sure people are still eligible. We're working closely with our federal partners,” Leach said.
Health and Welfare wants to get everyone looped in to make sure Idahoans understand what they are doing right now. You will receive mail from the Department about your status and renewal, it is not a scam. They need to hear from you.
“Get in contact with us, number one. Again, we start the process 60 days before to see if people are still eligible or not. So, the initial is send them a renewal form. At day 30, we send a reminder. We're also currently working on sending individual text messages as well before the end of the month when they could lose the benefits if they don't get in contact with us. So sooner the better,” Leach said.
What happens if you are found to be ineligible? You still have healthcare options.
“Overnight, they will actually be transferred to our partner, Your Health Idaho, which is a state-based marketplace. So from there, they will have an option where the state based marketplace will actually reach out and potentially provide them additional coverage if they want to go shop on the exchange,” Leach said.
For me details and information, click here to see the Department of Health and Welfare FAQ.
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