shocker

A NYT article from Tuesday examines why some many people enrolled in Medicaid in New York State fail to re-enroll at the appropriate time. The major reason: the re-enrollment process is inefficient, untimely, and, according to one participant in focus groups, "takes a lawyer to figure out". The necessary documents fail to reach their intended recipients, or do so after they are due back to the state.

This is totally unsurprising. I work part time at a facility for formerly homeless people, packaging meds and giving shots. There are about 45 residents here who need aggressive case management by their social workers, and one of the social workers' most significant time commitments is working on these programs' red tape. One social worker told me it can take up to one third of her time (although she said lately it had been much better) and another told me it was about a sixth. They both work 35 hours per week; if we average those two, we get eight hours and forty five minutes spent per week on Medicare/Medicaid. On the one hand, yes, they are managing about a dozen people. But the head of a household whose healthcare comes via Medicare/Medicaid could easily have to act as a caseworker for three or four people, without the benefit of a Master's degree, colleagues to help them sort things out, or a paycheck for their time. No wonder people are failing to re-enroll.