South Carolina Medicaid Beneficiaries To Begin Using Plastic Cards Next Month

To cut costs, South Carolina is replacing paper membership cards for Medicaid beneficiaries with plastic ones starting next month, the Charlotte Observer reports. Under the old system, the state each month printed and mailed paper cards to beneficiaries, at a cost of $1.6 million per year. State officials say the new system will cut that cost in half during the first year and should cost "a few hundred thousand dollars" per year after that. However, South Carolina doctors "aren't particularly happy" about the new cards, the Observer reports. Many doctors' offices will have to purchase special magnetic "swipe-through" devices to process the new cards. Although some practices already have the $400 device, which also processes credit cards, the "majority" do not, the Observer reports. Doctors without the equipment can call a toll-free number to verify Medicaid eligibility, but "that will take up staff time," Ron Fitzwater, chief operating officer of the South Carolina Medical Association, said. For their part, state officials say they are "aware of physicians' concerns and lament that doctors see the plastic card system as another financial drain" (Stobbe, Charlotte Observer, 11/18).