Federal health care signup site giving states incomplete Medicaid data

COLUMBIA, S.C. – People shopping for insurance on the federal marketplace may be informed they’re eligible for Medicaid and that their information is being sent to state officials to sign them up. However, states say they aren’t able enroll them because they’re receiving incomplete data from the Obama administration.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services wrote a memo to the 36 states using the federal website last week acknowledging the information wasn’t being transferred automatically and saying another system was being developed to send it. More complete files could be sent as soon as next week.

The technical problem could affect tens of thousands of Medicaid applicants and represents the latest issue to arise in the rollout of a website that’s been plagued with long waits for users and other glitches.

Some users who fill out applications on the federal site may believe that they’re already being enrolled in Medicaid or that state officials will contact them, even though the agencies aren’t receiving the information they need, said Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors. The data transfer problem is occurring in the 36 states where the federal site is deployed, regardless of whether they chose to expand Medicaid.

“Essentially, if you’re a consumer on healthcare.gov, it will tell you you’re eligible for Medicaid and the state agency will take care of it, but there’s no real way for the state Medicaid agency to know anything about it,” said Salo, who leads the nonpartisan membership group for state Medicaid chiefs.

The federal marketplace was designed to help people buy private insurance under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. If shoppers qualified for Medicaid, the site was supposed to send their data to the Medicaid agency in their state.

As explained on healthcare.gov, “When you finish this application, we’ll tell you which programs you and your family qualify for. If it looks like anyone is eligible for Medicaid, we’ll let the Medicaid agency know so your coverage can start in 2014.”

The site also says: “If you or a member of your family qualify for Medicaid or CHIP, a representative will contact you to enroll.” CHIP is a health insurance program for children.

The federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has devised an alternative way of sending files including the patient information to the states.

“CMS announced that we will be providing states with additional flexibility to use existing processes to enroll individuals in Medicaid and CHIP who applied through the federal marketplace. This process will ensure that coverage will begin on Jan. 1 for newly eligible enrollees,” said spokeswoman Emma Sandoe.

Salo said the federal government is currently sending states incomplete data files on people deemed eligible online – data called “flat files” – so that agencies can get a rough estimate of how many people they may need to enroll.

New files with more information could be sent as soon as Tuesday, Salo said. But states are unsure the new files will be complete or accurate enough for enrollments.

The administration notified state Medicaid directors in mid-September that the system wouldn’t work as planned when the site went live Oct. 1. It’s unclear when a final fix will be ready, Salo said.

It’s also not clear how many applicants could be affected nationwide. Salo said it’s too early to tell, and federal officials have not provided numbers.