Medicaid applications up 35 percent since Obamacare exchange opened – NJ.com

Dr. Ashwin Jadhav, maternal fetal medicine specialist does an ultrasound of a patient at Somerset Medical Center in Somerville. Patti Sapone/The Star-Ledger 

TRENTON — The opening of the Obamacare health exchange last month drove a 35 percent surge in new applications for Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income people, the state Department of Human Services confirmed today.

The number of applicants to the State’s Medicaid program — known as New Jersey FamilyCare — during October totaled 21,946, an increase of 35 percent from September when 16,339 applicants were reported, according to NJ Citizen Action Health Policy Advocate Maura Collinsgru. She said she learned about the information during a Medicaid Assistance Advisory Council Meeting today.

Nicole Brossoie, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services, which runs the Medicaid program, confirmed the application figures, but said it would not be until February before the state could confirm how many people qualified and successfully enrolled into the program.

New Jersey is one of 26 states that agreed to accept billions of federal dollars to expand the income eligibility limits in the Medicaid program. Doing so is expected to net the state $227 million in higher reimbursements while also enrolling 104,000 new people next year.

The development is a bit of good news to the law’s supporters after what has been an embarrassing national roll out of the Obamacare program. Numerous software problems have gummed up the website, healthcare.gov, and millions of people, including 800,000 in New Jersey, have received letters telling them their health plans did not meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act and would be canceled.

“Enrollment in NJ Family Care is up and shows New Jerseyans are eager to get coverage,” Collinsgru said. Calls to the FamilyCare telephone line rose 60 percent, she added.

According to a Nov. 13 briefing by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 23,021 applications from New Jersey residents had been submitted through the exchange but just 741 people had completed the application process and selected a plan. More than 17,000 of those applications came from people who qualified for Medicaid, according to the federal government.

People may apply for Medicaid directly at the NJ FamilyCare website.

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