States maintained Medicaid coverage with online tools, fewer enrollment steps
WASHINGTON – More than one half of states expanded and simplified their Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs’ eligibility, enrollment and renewal procedures in 2011, often using technology to streamline and automate processes.
That efficiency helped states to continue their coverage for low-income adults and children at the same level as the previous year.
Enhanced federal funding drove many states to begin major development work to modernize decades-old eligibility and enrollment systems.
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States will also need Web-based systems that have data analytics and other advanced capabilities to prepare for the millions more of beneficiaries who will enter the system in 2014, according to the annual 50-state Medicaid and CHIP survey released Jan. 18 by the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured and Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.
The survey collects new data on key policy actions taken over the last year for the programs, including the growing use of technology to boost program efficiencies and streamline processes and states’ responses to significant new federal financial incentive to upgrade eligibility and enrollment system to prepare for 2014.
“While strained state budgets have taken a toll on administrative resources, states have sharpened their use of technology and streamlined their procedures to create more efficient programs, while also simplifying the steps for families to enroll in and renew coverage,” Kaiser's report explained .
The kind of progress chronicled for children’s coverage over the years through the Kaiser surveys provide a roadmap for successful implementation of Medicaid expansion in 2014 as part of health reform, said Cindy Mann, deputy administrator and director of Center for Medicaid, CHIP and Survey and Certification at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Health Insurance Enrollment On-Line - News
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Online students not eligible for health insurance | Daily Titan
Students who enroll with CSUF through Extended Education are not eligible to receive health insurance because they are not on campus.
Online students do have access to the Student Health and Counseling Center on the main campus for illnesses and emergencies, but may have to pay a $45 fee.
Matriculated students enrolled in nine units or more can purchase health-care insurance by the deadline through the CSU health link website. Students can read the brochure to check what they are covered for and then enroll by the given deadline.
According to the CSU health link website, in order to be eligible for Blue Anthem health insurance through the CSU, a student has to be a regular, matriculated undergraduate student taking nine units or more. The student must also be attending classes on the main campus or the Irvine Campus.
The brochure on the health link website states that “course credits received from TV, Internet, video, satellite or any off-campus classes do not fulfill the eligibility requirement.”
In a time when more people than ever don’t have access to health insurance, this requirement leaves a lot of students who are furthering their education online out of the equation and in the cold for low-cost medical insurance.
Heather James, 24, is currently pursuing a certificate for business online. Due to her work schedule, James is unable to attend classes on the main campus and feels the health insurance policy for online students is unfair and leaves many students at a disadvantage.
“I work 40 hours a week and it is stressful keeping up with schoolwork. My job doesn’t provide health insurance and I thought once I enrolled in online classes through CSUF that I would have been eligible for some type of insurance, but I guess not,” said James.
Robert Flores, coordinator of Student Affairs at the Irvine Campus , believes all students should have access to health insurance and it is something that should be shared with all students before they enroll, in case they do not know. A student at the Irvine Campus recently had an issue regarding access to health insurance. Due to language in the health insurance brochure, some Irvine students were excluded from health insurance.