Poor Face Obstacles to Renew Public Health Insurance, Study Shows

Poor Face Obstacles to Renew Public Health Insurance, Study Shows - NYTimes.com

Study Cites Obstacles for Poor to Renew Health Insurance

By JULIE BOSMAN

More than a third of New York State’s recipients of Medicaid and other public health insurance programs fail to re-enroll on time, losing coverage even though they remain eligible, because of daunting paperwork and other obstacles, according to a new study.

The study by the New York State Health Foundation, a nonprofit organization that aims to improve public health through education and expanding access to high-quality care, said many people were deterred by Medicaid’s annual recertification process and that the resulting churning, in which recipients fall off the rolls and then reapply from scratch, costs the state money because it is more inefficient.

“We’ve tried to open the front door as wide as possible to these programs,” said David Sandman, the senior vice president of the New York State Health Foundation. “And now we need to focus just as much attention on closing the back door to make sure eligible people stay enrolled.”

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