Alabama Medicaid enrollment has jumped by nearly 50,000 people in the past two years, with the largest increase coming in children, teens and pregnant women.
Alabama Medicaid Agency Spokeswoman Robin Rawls told the Birmingham News that agency officials believe the economy is likely the cause, and the largest increase is in the program most likely to include working families.
Medicaid enrollment for the blind, aged and disabled remained relatively stable over recent years in Alabama, but the Medicaid program most likely to represent families with low-income jobs has seen an increase in enrollment.
Enrollment in the SOBRA program – a Medicaid program for children, teens and pregnant women, has increased by 45,273 since October 2006. Families who qualify for the program have incomes at or slightly above the poverty line.
Another program, Medicaid for Low Income Families, a healthcare program for families with extremely low incomes who have children at home, grew by more than 3,500.
Rawls told the Birmingham News that Alabama Medicaid staff are seeing an increase in families who are applying for Medicaid for the first time. Staff are also seeing an increase in the number of children who previously were served by ALL Kids, a government-subsidized insurance program for families who had made too much money to qualify for Medicaid but who now qualify because their parents have lost income.
As of July, there were 817,174 people enrolled in Alabama's Medicaid program, about 17 percent of the state's population.
Federal stimulus dollars through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) have helped support the Alabama Medicaid program. The Alabama Medicaid Agency expects to receive $850 million in federal stimulus money over 27 months.
Photo by markcbrennan acquired via Creative Commons license.