Kansas has backlog of 12,000 Medicaid applications

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PITTSBURG, Kan. | Rising unemployment, the swelling ranks of the uninsured, outdated technology and the state's budget problems have led to a backlog of 12,000 Medicaid applications in Kansas, health officials said.

A contractor that processes applications for the Kansas Health Policy Authority is supposed to complete them in two to six weeks, but has taken up to four months in some cases.

The health authority predicted there would be a backlog but was denied a request to the Legislature last session for $1.5 million for staff to speed up the processing work, Peter Hancock, an agency spokesman, told the Joplin Globe in a story published Monday.

“We saw this coming,” Hancock said. “We're not surprised. We're disappointed, obviously, that there are so many people uninsured and it's taking so long.”

As of September, Medicaid covered 265,787 Kansas residents, with an additional 38,683 children up to age 19 covered by the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. That's about 10 percent of the state's population.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/1516610.html