Committee Meets to Discuss Medicaid Implementation

On Wednesday, the MO Healthcare Oversight Committee met to discuss the implementation of the Medicaid expansion population. According to federal regulations, applications need to be processed in a maximum of 45 days, but Missouri is taking an average of 101 days. According to Kim Evans, director of the Family Support Division, the state is working on a mitigation plan to get the 58,000 pending applications processed sooner. She said by the end of  August the wait time should be down to 30 days. Part of the backlog problem is a lack of staff to process applications and the customer service call center where people can apply for various benefits like temporary assistance and food stamps in addition to Medicaid.

After voters approved a Medicaid expansion ballot measure in 2020, the Missouri legislature refused to fund Medicaid expansion. It took a Supreme Court ruling to clear the way for Medicaid expansion to take effect in Missouri. Enrollment processing began on October 1, 2021, for the estimated 275,000 Missourians who are now eligible for Medicaid.