State Simplifies Medicaid Eligibility Process for Applicants

None by KCPW

(KCPW News) Applying for Medicaid is a complicated process - made more so by the fact that two state agencies share responsibility for screening applicants. In Utah, that confusion is no longer. The Utah Department of Health has delegated all Medicaid eligibility screening to the Department of Workforce Services, says State Medicaid Director Michael Hales:

"It's mainly trying to create an opporutnity for someone applying for public assistance programs to go to one department rather than back and forth between two," says Hales. "And that will cut down on paperwork, too."

In 2006, more than 20 percent of Utah's Medicaid cases were transferred between the two departments. The Utah Legislature approved the consolidation, despite some concern the move would make it harder for applicants with limited mobility who would have to find a new eligibility office. Advocates for senior citizens and the disabled - like Kris Fawson of the Legislative Coalition for People with Disabilities - were also wary:

"We had some real concerns that possibly DWS wouldn't have the training they needed to deal with the complicated services that people with disabilities receive," says Fawson.

Fawson says state officials eased some of her concerns with promises that many of the Department of Health eligibility workers will simply transfer to the new Workforce Services offices.

Traditionally the Department of Health handled eligibility for people only applying for Medicaid. Workforce Services handled people who needed Medicaid along with other assistance programs. Michael Hales says the consolidation should make the system more efficient.

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