State survey: 2.9M Medicaid enrollments still unprocessed

Nearly 3 million Medicaid enrollments that took place under ObamaCare have not been processed due to technical or bureaucratic snags, according to a new state survey.

Roughly half of the enrollees currently in limbo reside in three states — California, Illinois and North Carolina — according to the analysis by Roll Call.

{mosads}The problems stem in part from the botched rollout of HealthCare.gov, where millions applied for Medicaid coverage but got stuck as the system failed to transfer their files to state governments.

States are technically required to process Medicaid applications within 45 days, but many received enrollees’ information months after the individuals filed it, according to the report. 

Medicaid benefits are retroactive, which will help alleviate problems for some people in the backlog, supporters said.

The so-called “back end” problems at HealthCare.gov have receded from view since the exchanges exceeded their enrollment target and the administration claimed victory.

But even states that ran their own exchanges encountered problems as Medicaid enrollment spiked. California officials reported that more than 900,000 applicants in their state are still waiting for benefit cards or denial letters.

In states that used HealthCare.gov, officials often resorted to sorting through Medicaid applications by hand.

Several states disagreed strongly with the federal site’s eligibility determinations, such as Indiana, which approved only 5 percent of applications.

Roll Call administered the survey to every state and received answers from 41.