Pennsylvania's somewhat rocky Medicaid expansion, for which enrollment began on December 1 and coverage on January 1, seems now to be firing on all burners. The state's Department of Human Services reported last week that enrollment is up to 439,000, more than two thirds of the state's target of 605,000.
The expansion began slowly. After Pennsylvania declined to expand in 2014, then-Governor Tom Corbett negotiated with HHS to create the kind of "private option" expansion popular with Republican governors. The "Healthy Pennsylvania" plans that were hastily constructed in fall 2014 had different terms for Medicaid-eligibles at different income levels, and eligibility criteria different from the state's existing programs. Adding to the confusion, existing state Medicaid programs required applicants to list their assets as well as their income; the ACA excludes such information from the Medicaid application process. Systems snarled and applications backlogged, though not as radically as in many states.
A transition back to traditional Medicaid initiated by the state's new Democratic Governor, Tom Wolf, kicked off on April 27. That transition will be complete by the end of this month, though some "private option" enrollees will be double-enrolled until September 1. By late April most applications were being processed in a timely manner, meeting the state's 30-day standard, enrollment counselors told me at the time. Kait Gillis, a DHS spokeswoman, tells me that 150,000 have been enrolled since the transition to traditional Medicaid kicked off.
The expansion began slowly. After Pennsylvania declined to expand in 2014, then-Governor Tom Corbett negotiated with HHS to create the kind of "private option" expansion popular with Republican governors. The "Healthy Pennsylvania" plans that were hastily constructed in fall 2014 had different terms for Medicaid-eligibles at different income levels, and eligibility criteria different from the state's existing programs. Adding to the confusion, existing state Medicaid programs required applicants to list their assets as well as their income; the ACA excludes such information from the Medicaid application process. Systems snarled and applications backlogged, though not as radically as in many states.
A transition back to traditional Medicaid initiated by the state's new Democratic Governor, Tom Wolf, kicked off on April 27. That transition will be complete by the end of this month, though some "private option" enrollees will be double-enrolled until September 1. By late April most applications were being processed in a timely manner, meeting the state's 30-day standard, enrollment counselors told me at the time. Kait Gillis, a DHS spokeswoman, tells me that 150,000 have been enrolled since the transition to traditional Medicaid kicked off.
