Now Is the Time to Sign Up Low-Income Patients to Medicaid

The national implementation of health insurance exchanges and the upcoming expansion of Medicaid have created a unique opportunity for healthcare providers: Now is the time to encourage low-income populations to enroll in Medicaid.

A new study of low-income populations in Massachusetts found that a large percentage of those who qualified for Medicaid but did not participate enrolled in the program during the rollout of healthcare reform.

Researchers of the study, affiliated with the University of Minnesota, called this enrollment spike a “welcome-mat effect.” They studied the 2006 healthcare reform rollout in Massachusetts and “found that among low-income parents who were previously eligible for Medicaid in Massachusetts, Medicaid enrollment increased by 16.3 percentage points, and Medicaid participation by those without private coverage increased by 19.4 percentage points.”

According to the study, as other states rollout federal healthcare reform, they should anticipate a similar increase when the the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act health insurance exchanges go online Oct. 1 and Medicaid expands (in some states) on Jan. 1. Healthcare providers should make promotion of Medicaid enrollment a communications priority during the second half of 2013 and into 2014. Based on the study, awareness will never be higher among low-income populations as to the opportunities available to them regarding healthcare options.

The study’s authors cite several possible explanations behind why those qualified for Medicaid suddenly decided to enroll in the program after healthcare reform:

• State health insurance exchanges “will provide access to subsidies for private health insurance—operated by states, the federal government, or a state-federal partnership.”
• In states that have chosen not to expand Medicaid, “the presence of either a state-based or federally facilitated health insurance exchange coupled with the individual mandate to obtain health insurance coverage is likely to have an impact on participation in Medicaid by people who are eligible under the current rules but have not enrolled.”
• Medicaid enrollment changes, such as “streamlined procedures for application and renewal of eligibility, are likely to make it easier for people to enroll in Medicaid,” the authors concluded.

For providers this represents good news, as the percentage who qualify for Medicaid but are not enrolled is as high as five percent of all patients in the state.

“Major shifts in the healthcare landscape are about to occur in all states, even those that have chosen not to expand Medicaid or implement a state-based health insurance exchange,” write the study’s authors. “On balance, we believe that these changes are also likely to result in substantial increases in Medicaid participation among people who are currently eligible for Medicaid but not enrolled.”

While the study is bad news for federal and state governments who must foot the bill for the increase, this represents a public relations opportunity for healthcare providers who should take advantage of the expanded awareness of healthcare reform and steer its low-income populations toward Medicaid.