Expanding Health Care Coverage

By

Lake Research Partners, Inc.

Funding Area

Expanding Health Care Coverage

Date

February 1, 2009

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Approximately one-third of enrollees in New York State’s public health insurance programs–Medicaid, Child Heath Plus, and Family Health Plus–fail to complete the annual recertification process and lose coverage despite remaining eligible, according to this NYHealth-funded study conducted by Lake Research Partners.

Some former beneficiaries manage to reenroll months later, resulting in a high churn rate that undermines efforts to provide continuous and stable health insurance to low-income New Yorkers.

Approximately one-third of enrollees in New York State’s public health insurance programs-Medicaid, Child Heath Plus, and Family Health Plus-fail to complete the annual recertification process and lose coverage despite remaining eligible, according to this NYHealth-funded study conducted by Lake Research Partners. Some former beneficiaries manage to reenroll months later, resulting in a high churn rate that undermines efforts to provide continuous and stable health insurance to low-income New Yorkers.

The findings result from focus groups that were conducted throughout the State with former program beneficiaries to identify the barriers and potential solutions to the problems individuals face during the recertification process. According to these recent disenrollees, the key barriers to recertification include: misconceptions about eligibility, confusion about the recertification process, an abundance of paperwork requirements, language issues, and the complicated nature of their lives. Former beneficiaries also recommended solutions to improve retention rates, including creating telephone and online recertification options, and offering recertification forms in multiple languages.