St. Paul — Beginning today, March 1, more Minnesotans will be eligible for Medicaid under the state’s expansion. Those eligible can now apply for the program at county or tribal human service offices. Today also marks the date that eligible enrollees in two state-funded programs have shifted to Medical Assistance (MA), the state Medicaid program, and will receive more comprehensive care with lower copays.
The change is as a result of an executive order, signed by Governor Mark Dayton in January. As a result, thousands of Minnesotans will now have insurance coverage at a savings to the state, and 20,000 health care jobs will be saved or created.
System changes to receive new applications were completed Monday, said Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson, and current enrollees in General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) were automatically converted to MA late last week. MinnesotaCare enrollees eligible for Medicaid will have access to full benefits beginning today. Those cases will be manually converted to MA by state and county workers over the next six months.
“We are ready for the new program and on schedule with our implementation work,” said Jesson. “We have plans in place and appreciate the willingness of county and tribal agencies, and other stakeholders to work with us to quickly implement the expansion.”
Under the expansion, approximately 83,000 people who would be eligible for GAMC and MinnesotaCare are projected to receive MA by 2012. An additional 12,000 people who would be uninsured are expected to enroll. All are adults without children who have incomes at or below 75 percent of the poverty level, about $677 a month or $8,124 a year for one person.
The Department of Human Services has been providing information about the process to clients, human service workers and other stakeholders. Notices to MinnesotaCare enrollees were mailed the week of Feb. 14. GAMC enrollees were mailed notices starting Feb. 24. They will also receive information about the end of GAMC as of Monday.
Minnesota received federal approval Feb. 17 for the MA expansion, an option under the federal Affordable Care Act. Additional information about the MA expansion is at www.dhs.state.us/MAexpansion.
