New York Health Advocates Lament End of Simplified Medicaid Enrollment Under Disaster Relief Program

Use of a simplified application process for temporary Medicaid benefits extended to New York residents after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center is scheduled to expire Jan. 31, the AP/Albany Times Union reports. Since Sept. 19, low-income New Yorkers have been able to enroll in Disaster Relief Medicaid by completing a "streamlined" one-page application. Since then, more than 200,000 New Yorkers have enrolled in Medicaid (Adcox, AP/Albany Times Union, 1/21). Under the temporary application program, applicants could enroll in Medicaid coverage "on the spot" if they signed a single-page statement swearing that they meet income requirements, which range from $716 per month for childless adults to $2,626 per month for a family with four children (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 11/26/01). The simplified enrollment process was created because the collapse of the World Trade Center cut a link between state Medicaid officials in Albany and the computer system that processes Medicaid applications in New York City. With the simplified enrollment set to expire at the end of the month, people applying for Medicaid coverage must undergo the typically "more cumbersome process," which includes an eight-page application and face-to-face interviews. Advocates for the poor have "lamented the demise" of the one-page enrollment form, saying that the longer application discourages many people from enrolling in Medicaid. Kate Lawler of the Children's Aid Society said, "For those of us on the front lines of the city's public health insurance system, DRM has been nothing short of revolutionary. They fill out a one-page form and walk out with immediate access to health insurance. I would love it if that would always be in place." About 1.5 million New Yorkers are eligible for subsidized health insurance but are not enrolled, according to Richard Conti, a spokesperson for state Assembly member Richard Gottfried (D) (AP/Albany Times Union, 1/21).