Lawmakers in Annapolis have the opportunity to provide more
Marylanders with health coverage and make state government more efficient at
the same time.
Although Maryland has expanded Medicaid eligibility under
the Affordable Care Act, tens
of thousands of eligible residents are not yet enrolled. That could be
corrected by legislation -- the Medicaid Streamlined Eligibility Act (HB
954) -- that would automatically enroll individuals in Medicaid if they are
eligible for the federal Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or if their children are eligible for Medicaid.
The legislation, which was the subject of a committee hearing this week, would
also allow 12-month continuous Medicaid eligibility for parents and children.
Besides increasing access to health coverage, adopting these
measures would end costly, duplicative verification processes for safety net programs with similar
eligibility levels. That’s particularly true of the provision that would link
Medicaid and SNAP eligibility.
Some 84.4 percent of all households receiving SNAP benefits
in Maryland also are eligible for Medicaid – nearly 218,000 households. Maryland
expanded Medicaid eligibility to anyone earning up to138 percent of the poverty
line ($27,310 a year for a family of
three), and the vast majority of SNAP participants have incomes at or below
this level.
In addition, most of the funding to pay for the increased Medicaid
coverage would come from the federal
government, not the state. The Department
of Legislative Services expects that federal dollars will cover the entire
cost for 90 percent of those who would
enroll in Medicaid through this streamlined process.
Source: Maryland Department of Legislative Services (click
to enlarge)
Note: The estimates for FY 2015 and FY 2016 include costs
for all aspects of HB 954.
Medicaid is an efficient program that makes beneficiaries
healthier by improving access to preventive and primary care. Its per-beneficiary
costs are lower
than those of private insurance, and its costs have been growing more slowly
than employer coverage.
Enrolling Maryland
residents in Medicaid if they are already participating in SNAP will help make
sure more Marylanders get the health coverage they need – and the economic
security and peace of mind that go with it. It also would allow Maryland to
identify and enroll eligible people more quickly and with less paperwork.
