States Can Streamline Medicaid Application Process by Eliminating Asset Test, New Report Says

States that have eliminated the asset test from Medicaid have been able to streamline their eligibility processes, adopt automated eligibility systems, improve eligibility workers' productivity, establish Medicaid as a health insurance program separate from welfare, make the enrollment process more accessible and "friendlier" and experience savings in administrative costs, according to a new report from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. As of July 2000, Delaware, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia had eliminated the asset test in the Medicaid application process. The report includes comments from officials in those states and the District concerning how the decision to remove the asset test impacted agency staff, program participants and program administration and cost. According to the report, for the nine states and the District, the "overarching objective" of eliminating the asset test was "the desire to simplify the eligibility application process." Five additional states -- Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey and South Carolina -- since July 2000 have eliminated the asset test for Medicaid determination. New York, Vermont and Wisconsin also eliminated the asset test for families applying for Medicaid coverage under the states' Section 1115 waivers (KCMU, "Eliminating the Medicaid Asset Test for Families: A Review of State Experiences," April 2001). The report is available at http://www.kff.org/content/2001/2239/.