By Jaclyn Cosgrove, Staff Writer
April Merrill has lost track of the number of phone calls she has made, trying to get young people signed up for Medicaid.
There was the young man who had a painful abscess in his mouth and was having trouble communicating at work.
There was the young woman who could no longer afford her mental health medication after she no longer had Medicaid coverage.
An estimated 2,300 former foster youth — these two examples included — are now eligible to remain on the state’s Medicaid program until age 26.
Some advocates are worried, however, that not enough former foster children are being enrolled into the program.
That change in eligibility is thanks to a provision of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, that expanded the Medicaid program to allow young people who were in foster care when they turned 18 to remain on the state health insurance coverage plan until age 26.
The change went into effect Jan.
