A new re-enrollment process could cause some of the nearly 800-thousand Mississippians on Medicaid to be dropped from the program.
According to the division of Medicaid, the federal health care reform law changes how they calculate family income requiring a longer, more comprehensive form to be mailed to every recipient.
Roy Mitchell with the Mississippi Health Advocacy Program says he is concerned that many families will skip the six-page form, which is supposed to be returned within thirty days.
"It asks for a lot of very personal information. It is confusing. It is not clear on the form. For example, there is no instruction on the form on the notice page," Mitchell said.
Medicaid says if a person does not return the form, they will follow up and try to work with the family before removing them from the program.
Even if they are dropped, there is a three month window for them to sign back up.
Mitchell says he is still worried that not enough is being done to help people understand how to re-enroll.
"One way to remedy it is to simply put the consumer assistance Health Help on the notice. Or also allow people to call into the division of Medicaid and renew by phone," Mitchell said.
The forms are part of the annual re-enrollment process that has long been a standard part of Medicaid.
The division says in most cases, most of the information will be already filled in to try and make the form simpler.
