Federal officials are raising concerns that long call center wait times may be contributing to a surge in the number of people losing Medicaid health care coverage.
Workers at a Medicaid call center in Jefferson City, Mo., field questions and review information regarding eligibility determinations on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. Federal Medicaid officials have raised concerns that call center wait times are too long in 16 states, including Missouri. States are handling an influx of questions after a pandemic-era moratorium on removing people from Medicaid ended this spring.
“If you call a call center and you have a sort of significant wait, you oftentimes are neglecting your work duties, you’re neglecting needs of your family, otherwise growing impatient," said Matt Slonaker, executive director of the Utah Health Policy Project, a nonprofit that assists Medicaid recipients."What we’ve seen anecdotally over and over again is people giving up.”
States typically conduct annual eligibility reviews. But they are now dealing with a backlog of cases because the federal government prohibited states fromduring the coronavirus pandemic — a roughly three-year moratorium that ended in April. Among those 16 states, the average call center wait time was 25 minutes and the average hang-up rate was 29%. That's significantly higher than the rest of the states, where the average call wait was less than 3 minutes and the average hang-up rate was less than 6%.
In some states, the same staff who make Medicaid eligibility determinations also are responsible for fielding phone calls. "That will help cut down on the number of individuals that need to call us to try to clarify information on their forms,” Checketts said.
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