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Medicaid Soars, Covering 1/3 Of New Yorkers

March 20, 2008

Amid a “historic” increase in statewide Medicaid enrollment, nearly a third of New York City residents are now on the state’s rolls, with 1 million joining between 2000 and 2005.

A report published yesterday by the United Hospital Fund documents a 55% increase in statewide Medicaid enrollment, which reached 4.3 million in 2005, up from 2.8 million five years earlier. New York City residents account for 66% of the state’s Medicaid program; 2.8 million were enrolled in the program in 2005, up from 1.8 million in 2000.

“It was definitely a major increase,” the report’s author, Michael Birnbaum, a senior health policy analyst at the United Hospital Fund, said. “Expanding eligibility among adults was one major reason.”

Medicaid is the state health benefit program for low-income New Yorkers. With an annual price tag of nearly $47 billion, it is among the costliest nationwide.

The report offered a number of reasons for the statewide enrollment increase, including policy changes and an effort to enroll eligible, uninsured New Yorkers. In the weeks after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the state offered a Disaster Relief Medicaid program, which temporarily simplified the Medicaid application process for thousands of new enrollees. Around the same time, the state rolled out Family Health Plus, a program for individuals and families with incomes just above the Medicaid cutoff. Simultaneously, the state encouraged managed care plans and community groups to help identify and enroll eligible applicants. Also, a 2001 court ruling allowed certain non-citizens to enroll. In 1997, New York discontinued its coverage of certain immigrant populations, including those with green cards and those in the process of obtaining green cards. Under the 2001 decision, immigrants with green cards or those in the process of obtaining green cards are eligible for state Medicaid benefits.

Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for Medicaid benefits except in emergency situations, or if the undocumented immigrant is a child or a pregnant woman.

 

Source: NY Sun Read the full story here

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Written by NY Politics · Filed Under Health 

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