Some Consumers In Limbo Waiting For Medicaid Applications To Be Processed
Kaiser Health News reports that most of these are people who sought coverage through the health law's Medicaid expansion. Meanwhile, the New York Times takes a look at how a state line can make all the difference in who gets Medicaid.
Kaiser Health News: More Than 1.7 Million Consumers Still Wait For Medicaid Decisions
While an unprecedented 6 million people have gained Medicaid coverage since September, mostly as a result of the Affordable Care Act, more than 1.7 million more are still waiting for their applications to be processed—with some stuck in limbo for as long as eight months, according to officials in 15 large states. The scope of the problem varies widely. California, the most populous state to implement the health law’s expansion of Medicaid, accounts for a lion’s share of the backlog with 900,000 applications still pending as of early June. The next biggest pileup is in Illinois, with 283,000 cases, while New York has no backlog at all (Galewitz, 6/9).
The New York Times: In Texarkana, Uninsured And On The Wrong Side Of A State Line
Arkansas accepted the Medicaid expansion in the Affordable Care Act. Texas did not. That makes Texarkana perhaps the starkest example of how President Obama’s health care law is altering the economic geography of the country. The poor living in the Arkansas half of town won access to a government benefit worth thousands of dollars annually, yet nothing changed for those on the Texas side of the state line (Lowrey, 6/8).
And in Utah -
Salt Lake Tribune: S.L. County To Lobby Legislature To Accept Medicaid Funds
The Salt Lake County Council wants to let state officials know — again — that county taxpayers will end up footing a substantial bill if Utah does not go along with Medicaid expansion. So the GOP-led council is preparing to write a letter asking legislative leaders to drop their resistance to at least Gov. Gary Herbert’s compromise "Healthy Utah" proposal, which would tap public Medicaid dollars to buy private coverage for an estimated 111,000 Utahans, almost half of whom are county residents (Gorrell, 6/9).