NEW ORLEANS (WGNO)— The federal government will begin checking the eligibility of people who receive Medicaid and millions of people nationwide could lose coverage. The state department of health is hoping to help residents that need care, gain access.
“It will impact hundreds of patients that we actually currently treat and we’re going to be working with those patients to identify options”, said Michael Griffin CEO, DePaul Community Health Centers.
Michael Griffin is CEO of Depaul Community Health Centers. Depaul provides treatment to over 50,000 New Orleanians at its 12 healthcare centers and some are at risk of losing Medicaid coverage.
“A large portion of our patients are Medicaid- about 65%, and then we seniors about 12% on Medicare, and then we do have some that are uninsured about 10% of our patients don’t have any insurance at all,” Michael Griffin CEO, DePaul Community Health Centers
Statewide, about 2 million Louisianans get Medicaid and beginning in March a national review of eligibility will happen for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. The Louisiana department of health says it’s vital that the department says a current mailing address and backup contact information on recipients for the re-determination process.
In fact, you can log on to healthy.la.gov to update your information. As for why you may lose coverage, griffin says most times it’s failing to meet financial qualifications.
“It’s a very low financial threshold or bar, let me put it that way. Household income to qualify for Medicaid and so that’s the main reason that you would make a little bit more than what would qualify you. But again it’s such a low amount that you could qualify for some of these other health insurance options and keep your co-pay zero to $10 or something fairly low,” Michael Griffin CEO, DePaul Community Health Centers.
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