Milwaukee County moves to devote $500,000 to helping residents with post-pandemic health insurance
With thousands of Milwaukeeans potentially losing Medicaid insurance coverage with the end of the COVID-19 national emergency declaration, Milwaukee County is considering devoting $500,000 to ramp up efforts to help residents re-enroll in the program or explore alternative health insurance options.
The county's American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Task Force unanimously recommended Thursday allocating the pandemic federal aid to a Medicaid re-enrollment support project on Thursday.
Milwaukee County has received $183 million in federal dollars since the COVID-19 pandemic, and 96% of ARPA funds have been allocated by the county so far.
More than 400,000 county residents — roughly 44% of Milwaukee County's population — are enrolled in Medicaid. Of that number, more than 90,000 may no longer be eligible for Medicaid and will require some other form of coverage, according to Steve Gorodetskiy, the Department of Health and Human Services Strategic Initiatives Director.
For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a national emergency in March 2020 Medicaid recipients — low-income adults, children, pregnant women, foster children, elderly adults and people with disabilities — will need to re-enroll in the program to maintain their coverage.
Gorodetskiy warned that a number of residents may not be aware of the requirement following a three-year continuous re-enrollment. Wisconsin will require residents to re-enroll starting June 2023.
An estimated 9,000 county residents will lose their Medicaid coverage starting next month.
"The result may be that vulnerable residents may discover they no longer have insurance at the moment they have a medical need, or a resident may not seek out health care services because of the confusion of this Medicaid unwinding," Gorodetskiy wrote in an informational report to the county task force.
The effects of the state returning to annual Medicaid eligibility reviews will likely impact Black and Hispanic residents currently enrolled in the program. County ZIP codes with a high number of enrollees include 53218, 53209, 53216, 53215, 53204 and 53221.
Of the money allocated, $100,000 would be geared toward creating and expanding campaigns throughout the year to raise awareness that Medicaid recipients need to re-enroll, $300,000 would fund agency partnerships and contractors providing support to enrollees, particularly aging populations and residents with disabilities. The remaining $100,000 would go toward training of staff and other providers and to materials, technology and administrative support.
The allocation will have to be approved by the county's Finance Committee and also by the full Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors.
Contact Vanessa Swales at 414-308-5881 or vswales@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Vanessa_Swales.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee County task force earmarks $500K for Medicaid re-enrollment
