Automatic enrollment of low-income children and families in Medicaid and SCHIP programs based on eligibility information states already have on file would provide health benefits to scores of uninsured people, according to a new study by the Commonwealth Fund. Sixty-two percent of uninsured children and two-thirds of uninsured poor parents are eligible for public health benefits but are not enrolled, says the study. Automatic enrollment, however, has greatly increased participation rates for many other benefit programs, such as 401(k) programs, where 90% of employees are automatically enrolled by employers versus 10% who sign up on their own. The study recommends that states use existing enrollment information for food stamp programs and automatically extend Medicaid and SCHIP benefits to those families. Also, 53% of uninsured parents have children covered by Medicaid, so states can enroll parents through their children’s Medicaid records. But first, states will require federal funding to upgrade IT systems so electronic databases from various public programs can communicate with each other, and a change in law is needed to give states the flexibility to apply eligibility methodologies for other public programs to Medicaid and SCHIP programs.
