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Health Care Medical centers test online insurance applications



Health Care: Program Simplifies Enrollments in Healthy Families, Medi-Cal

More than 177 applications have been submitted via an Internet-based pilot program that seeks to facilitate enrollment for children of low-income families into two public health insurance programs.

Five centers in San Diego have been designated to test the “Health-e-App” program, which tells families within minutes whether their children qualify for Medi-Cal, the statewide health program for the poor, or Healthy Families, designated for children whose parents’ income is too high to qualify for Medi-Cal.

Out of nearly 2 million uninsured children in California, 838,000 children are estimated to be eligible for Medi-Cal and 639,000 children for Healthy Families, according to an analyst at the California HealthCare Foundation in Oakland.

But Healthy Families has been troubled since its inception in 1997.

Critics charged families have been turned off by cumbersome applications, long waiting periods and limited assistance.

Health-e-App, which is funded by a $1 million grant from the California HealthCare Foundation, aims to remove old barriers.

Its goal is to save workers time, help reduce errors on applications, and speed up the flow of data, said Claudia Page, policy analyst at the Medi-Cal Policy Institute, a project of the California HealthCare Foundation.

While it’s too early to pinpoint successes, preliminary data compiled between Jan. 9 and Jan. 26 are encouraging, Page said.

“Health-e-App is receiving enthusiastic acceptance from applicants and application assistors (people that help families process applications),” Page said.

Results Not In

Those involved say it’s too early to celebrate.

Shirleen Freeman, director of operations at the Comprehensive Health Center on Oceanview Boulevard in San Diego, said the stigma attached to welfare is hard to overcome.

“Many people don’t want to be on insurance,” Freeman said. “It’s a stigma that they are less worthy, because they are on government assistance.”

Many families get into this vicious cycle of trying to convince themselves they’ll make it on their own if they work harder, she said.

But most people fail, she added.

Many families also continue to be intimidated by the application forms. That’s where the application processors come in to help tear down barriers, Freeman said.

Barbara Jimenez, who helped develop the Health-e-App program in San Diego, said to get preliminary results on eligibility is attractive to families.

Under the old system, families had to wait three to four weeks for an answer.

Incomplete and lost applications further delayed the application process, she said.

Quick Response

With Health-e-App, families are told by the state’s agency right away if they qualify for Healthy Families. The county determines final eligibility for Medi-Cal.

Jimenez said the application process isn’t entirely paperless.

Families still need to fax proof of income and residency and other documents to be approved. They also need to pay premiums via money order or at a Rite Aid Pharmacies to obtain coverage for their children.

However, at a maximum premium of $27 monthly for one or more children, the effort is well worth it, Freeman said.

She encouraged low-income families to apply at the Comprehensive Health Center or at the other sites in San Diego: La Clinica Medica Para La Mujer de Hoy in Chula Vista, La Maestra Family Clinic on Fairmont Avenue, The Family Health Center in San Diego, and Central Elementary School in National City.

On Feb. 2, the Washington, D.C.-based Lewin Group will start analyzing the program, Page said. Results won’t be available until March.

When asked about additional funding from the HealthCare Foundation to keep the program running beyond testing, Page responded, “Our commitment is to make the program available to the state at no cost.”

Last year, Healthy Families had to return $240 million in federal funding, because of insufficient enrollment.

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