Medicaid applications from HealthCare.gov called flawed; Mo. enrollment dips : News

Medicaid applications from HealthCare.gov called flawed; Mo. enrollment dips : News

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JEFFERSON CITY • Missouri’s Medicaid program expected to see an uptick in enrollment with the rollout of HealthCare.gov because outreach efforts would attract more people — particularly children — who were already eligible.

Indeed, the federally run marketplace has turned over to the Missouri Department of Social Services more than 25,000 applications from people who seemed to meet the state’s income criteria.

But the state hasn’t added any of them to the Medicaid rolls.

Rather, the number of Missourians on Medicaid has actually decreased by about 14,000 since the marketplace launched on Oct. 1.

The state says application data forwarded by the online exchange is fraught with errors and duplication. “We’re in the process of sorting it out,” said Brian Kinkade, acting director of the social services department.