New Hampshire residents face a myriad of barriers accessing the state’s Medicaid programs, according to a new report, which calls on lawmakers to expand eligibility.
The report, released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Rights & Democracy Institute and The Center for Public Democracy, found that people seeking coverage through the federally-backed Medicaid program face long wait times, stigma and difficulty in navigating a cumbersome and complicated application process.
Of the estimated 200,000 Medicaid recipients in New Hampshire, about 60% had trouble enrolling in the programs or navigating the system, according to the report.
“Medicaid is a vital, life-saving program that serves some of the most vulnerable members of our society,” Laura Mitchell, one of the group’s health care organizers, said Tuesday during a live-streamed briefing. “All people who meet the eligibility criteria are guaranteed coverage, but there are many barriers making it difficult to apply or even determine one’s eligibility.”
Mitchell said the maze of eligibility requirements – including income, age, disability and pregnancy status – throw up even more barriers by creating a “complex and onerous” process.
“This cumbersome Medicaid application process is especially difficult for the folks who need it the most – people with low incomes and disabilities, caretakers, single parents, people living in rural areas and people of color,” she said.
Poverty, non-citizen status, a lack of fluency in English and living in rural locations exacerbate these barriers for many residents, the report noted. People of color are experiencing the barriers to Medicaid benefits more than white residents, according to the report’s findings.
“Because of the ways that systematic racism shapes how social safety net programs are implemented, people of color, especially black people are less likely to access and more likely to experience greater scrutiny when trying to enroll and when enrolled in other safety net programs,” the report’s authors wrote.
Advocates say they hope the findings will spur action in Concord, where lawmakers are considering bills to address Medicaid eligibility and streamline the process of applying for benefits.
One proposal, filed by Rep. Joe Schapiro, D-Keene, would allow immigrant children and pregnant women immediately eligible for Medicaid benefits, by eliminating the state’s current five-year waiting period to receive benefits.
The waiting period was listed by the report’s authors as one of the main barriers to Medicaid benefits.
Another proposal, filed by Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka, D-Portsmouth, would preserve postpartum care for mothers on Medicaid for up to one year.
Under the state’s current eligibility rules, women on Medicaid lose coverage 60 days after giving birth.
The report’s authors make a number of recommendations, including a simpler application process, a real-time eligibility determination process to cut down and wait times and increased training and resources to process applications.
