Post by pavel on Jan 20, 2016 23:18:56 GMT -6
Louisiana's Medicaid expansion enrollment could grow to 450,000
The Department of Health and Hospitals is now forecasting that Louisiana's Medicaid rolls could swell to nearly 450,000 people after initially projecting that as many as 300,000 uninsured could be covered under the federally funded program.
The department had originally based its projections based on U.S. Census data that counted about 306,000 people as uninsured. But there is also a population of about 130,000 people who are part of the state program who are eligible to receive screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STI) even if they aren't eligible for Medicaid coverage.
That population, said Medicaid interim director Jen Steele, was always counted as part of the 306,000 that reported themselves as uninsured.
"We were trying to make an educated guess about if you got the call from the Census (Bureau) and they asked if you had health insurance, and all you had was a card that got you access to STI screening and treatment, would you say you had health insurance?" Steele said. "We said, 'Well, probably not.'"
Read more: www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/01/medicaid_expansion_500000.html
The Department of Health and Hospitals is now forecasting that Louisiana's Medicaid rolls could swell to nearly 450,000 people after initially projecting that as many as 300,000 uninsured could be covered under the federally funded program.
The department had originally based its projections based on U.S. Census data that counted about 306,000 people as uninsured. But there is also a population of about 130,000 people who are part of the state program who are eligible to receive screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STI) even if they aren't eligible for Medicaid coverage.
That population, said Medicaid interim director Jen Steele, was always counted as part of the 306,000 that reported themselves as uninsured.
"We were trying to make an educated guess about if you got the call from the Census (Bureau) and they asked if you had health insurance, and all you had was a card that got you access to STI screening and treatment, would you say you had health insurance?" Steele said. "We said, 'Well, probably not.'"
Read more: www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/01/medicaid_expansion_500000.html