Medicaid Online Enrollment Starts Oct. 1

Some people soon should be able to enroll online in Missouri’s Medicaid health care program for those with low incomes, instead of through paper applications, as part of a new system that’s scheduled to begin by Oct. 1. The state awarded a contract for the online enrollment system to EngagePoint, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based firm that is designing similar eligibility systems for Arkansas, Minnesota and Maryland, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Missouri currently uses a paper-based process to verify eligibility for most Medicaid benefits. State workers type the information into a 17-year-old program known as the Family Assistance Management Information System. Medicaid currently covers more than 870,000 lower-income Missourians. Part of the new enrollment system must be operating by Oct. 1, when consumers can start shopping online for private health plans through a federally run health insurance exchange. Under the federal Affordable Care Act, the information that people type into the federal portal is supposed to transfer to a state website if the person is eligible for Medicaid.