The CMS is making permanent a fast-track avenue for Medicaid enrollment through the federal program that provides food assistance for low-income Americans.
States facing backlogs in enrolling eligible Medicaid beneficiaries will be able to continue to use data from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) to identify individuals with incomes at the state's Medicaid income eligibility threshold.
Using this data, states can identify individuals who are eligible but not enrolled in Medicaid. Once these individuals give consent and their eligibly is confirmed, they can be enrolled in Medicaid without completing a full Medicaid application or undergoing a separate eligibility determination.
“We are pleased to be able to provide states with additional opportunities to facilitate enrollment of eligible individuals in Medicaid, and encourage states that have not adopted any of these options, as well as states that need additional assistance, to contact us,” CMS says in a letter to Medicaid directors.
While backlogs aren't as prevalent as they were during the first open enrollment, Medicaid applications continue to get held up by HealthCare.gov because of to technical problems. That means states sometimes get thousands of applications at once after the issue is resolved, said Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors.
“There will probably be a some number of states that will have interest in the expedited pathway,” Salo said.
The SNAP pathway, which was supposed to sunset at the end of 2015, was introduced in a 2013 letter to Medicaid directors ahead of the initial open enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act. The CMS expected a potential backlog on the state level due to Medicaid expansion.
States previously needed to obtain a waiver to implement this strategy but now can get permission with an amendment to their Medicaid plans.
“This new guidance is great news for low-income people seeking to stay connected to health coverage and for the state agencies that administer Medicaid,” said Dorothy Rosenbaum, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “It will allow states to rely on recent, highly accurate information the state has already collected for determining SNAP eligibility and benefits to avoid a lot of duplicative work.”
Another benefit is that states may see a reduction in the cost of enrollment. “It will save states on administrative costs and spare families lots of unnecessary paperwork,” said Jocelyn Guyer, a director with Manatt Health Solutions.
