States see issues with names of potential Medicaid enrollees

Look for complaints about new Medicaid claims to start bubbling up in states that opted out of expanding the program. The troubled HealthCare.gov exchange is transferring names of potential Medicaid enrollees who signed up for insurance on the federal exchanges but were too poor to qualify for subsidies.

Nearly half of the 396,261 Americans who applied through the site and were deemed eligible for Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program live in states that didn't expand Medicaid. Florida, Oklahoma and Texas late last week said they couldn't verify if the names the federal government sent them were eligible in their states.

“Some of the people they've suggested aren't even in our state,” said Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

The problem may be in the limited nature of the data being sent by the government, which has promised a fix by Dec. 9. But few officials in the non-expanding states have faith in the date because the CMS has missed previously announced deadlines. “At this point, we do not know when they will have this functionality in place and working,” said Ken Pastorick, a spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

A CMS spokeswoman acknowledged that the recommendations may not all be sound. They not only represent those individuals assessed or determined eligible for the program, but also “other individuals whose applications the state may need to further review,” she said. Every state has different requirements for its basic Medicaid eligibility.

Follow Virgil Dickson on Twitter: @MHVDickson