States streamline, add efficiency to Medicaid, survey finds

According to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey, 29 states have streamlined their programs, with most taking advantage of federal incentives to use new technology.

Bloomberg: U.S. States Streamline Medicaid as Federal Law Forces Changes, Report Says
A stipulation in the 2010 health care law that bans U.S. states from dropping Medicaid patients has forced them to be more efficient in managing the program to save money, according to a report today. While Medicaid, the joint U.S.-state health plan for low-income people, is among the biggest expenses for states in a flagging economy, the law prevents them from dropping members or tightening eligibility. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that 29 states have streamlined their programs, with most using U.S. incentives to add new technology (Peterson, 1/18).

Kaiser Health News: Capsules: States Ease Barriers To Medicaid, CHIP Enrollment, Survey Says
Half the states last year made it easier for children and their parents to enroll in Medicaid by streamlining enrollment and using technology advances to verify citizenship requirements, according to a report released Wednesday. ... The survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured also found that eight states expanded eligibility rules so more children would qualify for Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program, CHIP (KHN is an editorially-independent program of the foundation). Three of the states -; Illinois, Texas and Vermont -; began covering lawfully residing immigrant children without first having them wait five years. CHIP helps more than 5 million children from low-income families whose incomes make them ineligible for Medicaid (Galewitz, 1/18).

CQ HealthBeat: Kaiser: State Medicaid, CHIP Eligibility, Enrollment Policies Steady Despite Strained Budgets
States generally maintained Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program eligibility levels in 2011 despite recession-related budget pressures. But coverage for poor adults remains far below that for children, a new 50-state survey released Wednesday concluded. The survey by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured and the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families credits the health overhaul for its maintenance of effort requirements and the health care law and other federal actions for providing options for technological improvements (Bristol, 1/18).