News & Events > United Hospital Fund Report Examines Medicaid Eligibility and Enrollment Changes

A new report from the Medicaid Institute at United Hospital Fund examines Medicaid’s eligibility and enrollment processes in an environment being reshaped by New York’s implementation of federal health care reform and the transition of Medicaid administration from local governments to the state.

“While New York has made significant progress in recent years in streamlining public health insurance eligibility and enrollment rules and processes, there is not only room for improvement, but also a unique window, at this moment, to extend and accelerate improvements,” says Danielle Holahan, co-director of the Fund’s Health Insurance Project and a co-author of the report.

“The Affordable Care Act requires streamlined, consumer-centric eligibility and enrollment processes and considerable coordination between public and private coverage options in our state’s health insurance exchange, and it provides significant funding to implement these changes,” says Deborah Bachrach of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, who is also a co-author of the report.

Among the critical changes discussed in the report are the need for information systems that can accommodate increased numbers of applicants with differing language skills and can also handle real-time matching of eligibility information with existing government databases. Also critical will be reform of rules that impede the goal of simplifying the enrollment process. 

“Covering more than 25 percent of New Yorkers, Medicaid is a cornerstone of our state’s health insurance, but today about a million other New Yorkers are eligible but uninsured, and the federal health reform law will make another 100,000 newly eligible,” says James R. Tallon, Jr., president of the United Hospital Fund. “This report takes that reality and carefully examines the changes needed to create a more effective and efficient enrollment process.”

The report notes that the discussed reforms are essential to increasing eligible individuals’ participation in Medicaid and allowing seamless coordination with subsidized coverage through the insurance exchange.

“Revisioning” Medicaid as Part of New York’s Coverage Continuum was written by Deborah Bachrach, Patricia Boozang, and Melinda Dutton, of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, and Danielle Holahan of the Fund. The full report is available on the United Hospital Fund’s website.

About the United Hospital Fund: The United Hospital Fund is a health services research and philanthropic organization whose mission is to shape positive change in health care for the people of New York.

About the Medicaid Institute: The Medicaid Institute at United Hospital Fund provides information and analysis explaining New York’s Medicaid program, with the goal of helping all stakeholders redesign, restructure, and rebuild the program.

About Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP:  Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, is one of the nation's leading law firms, representing a sophisticated client base across a range of practice areas and industry sectors. In health care, the firm’s law and policy professionals provide expertise in health care information technology, coverage and access, financing and reimbursement, and all areas of federal health reform.  For more information, visit www.manatt.com.

###