Texas Medicaid rolls grow even without expansion

More than 80,000 Texans have enrolled in Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program since the rollout of the Affordable Care Act last fall, despite the state's decision not to participate in the health law's expansion of eligibility. Enrollment and marketplace developments in Colorado and Maryland are also tracked.

The Texas Tribune: Texas Sees Rise In Medicaid Sign-Ups
More than 80,000 additional Texans have enrolled in Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program since the rollout of the Affordable Care Act last fall despite Republican state leaders' decision not to expand eligibility to poor adults, according to federal figures. The 80,435 new enrollees as of May -; mostly Texans who already qualified for coverage but did not previously seek it -; represent a 1.8 percent increase over pre-Obamacare figures (Okun, 7/15).

Houston Chronicle: Even Without Expansion, Texas Medicaid Rolls Rise
[Rosa] Ruiz' children are among a flood of Texans who joined the Medicaid rolls this year after long being eligible without knowing it. A new report shows the number of state residents on Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, grew by more than 80,000 between last summer and this May, a 1.8 percent spike, despite the Legislature's decision to reject the expansion of Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act. Overall, 4.52 million Texans now are on one of the federal programs, according to the report from the national Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Most are children (Rosenthal, 7/15).

Health News Colorado: Double-Enrollment Snafu: Who's On The Hook For 'Million Dollar' Claims?
Colorado's Medicaid and health exchange managers simultaneously enrolled about 3,000 people in both public and private health insurance, creating confusion over who will pay claims that could approach $1 million per person for high-cost patients. The problem is also beginning to emerge around the country, and Colorado officials used the weekend meeting of the National Governor's Association in Tennessee to plead for help from federal health officials to halt the potentially costly double enrollments. Colorado's Medicaid Director Sue Birch tried to downplay the problem during a health exchange board meeting on Monday. She said she has identified the people who are double enrolled, is "minimizing the financial magnitude" of the problem and is ensuring that patients are getting care (McCrimmon, 7/15).

The Associated Press: Md. Officials Provide Update On Health Exchange
A computer glitch with Connecticut's health exchange will be corrected in the version Maryland will be using as the state revamps its own troubled website with Connecticut's technology, Maryland's information technology secretary assured lawmakers Tuesday. As Maryland faces a tight timeline before the next enrollment period begins in four months, Isabel FitzGerald told a legislative oversight panel that the state is on schedule to have its own flawed website fixed with the new technology in time for the next open enrollment period in November (7/15).