93.9 The Eagle – The News and Talk of Columbia, MO
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Gov. Mike Parson’s administration says Missouri’s improving economy is the main reason up to 70,000 people dropped off the state’s Medicaid rolls last year. But advocates are pointing to problems with a new renewal system as another reason for the decline.
The advocates say the Department of Social Services’ new system has several problems accessing data and automatically renews a low rate of Medicaid recipients.
An estimated 70,000 people fell off the state’s Medicaid rolls last year. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports in the first three months of this year, 12,000 more people no longer have Medicaid coverage.
A Department of Social Services statement to the Post-Dispatch says the department is working with federal authorities to find ways the state can automatically renew Medicaid eligibility reliably through federal data.
