September 2019 Monthly Management Report for Family Support Division & MO HealthNet Benefit Report Show Mixed Totals
Don’t act surprised…
Last month 1,903 Missourians gained Medicaid coverage. – MO Healthnet Report
Meanwhile, almost 5,000 lost food stamps and just under one hundred lost Temporary Assistance.
The Medicaid (aka MO HealthNet) number could be a rebound after the dramatic attack on the rolls in prior months as people fight to get their deserved benefit back.
And, the number of kids on Medicaid in September was 491,664: August’s total was 503,838, for a drop of 12,164 kids. The system is still a mess.
You see, the Department of Social Services still relies on its Call Centers to process and update most applications. Per their August report, fewer than half of callers even got in line for a human being – most got ‘deflected’ to the mostly unhelpful automated system. (Those in line waited, on average, 41 minutes to talk to someone.)
So, some of the constant decline in the number getting benefits probably is caused by the ineffective the Call Center system. A lot of the drop, unfortunately, seems to be the desired effect of a nasty, inhumane automated system which casts people off without human review. For example, as part of a Medicaid eligibility review Mr. Computer sends your paperwork to an old, old address. You never get the form. Tough shit, you’re off Medicaid. Please call to re-apply. Good luck with that.
Missouri September Benefits
2019 2011
Temporary Assistance
Children 16,761 71,587
Adults 5,031 37,078
TOTAL 21,792 108,665
Benefits $2,114,124 $10,049,400
Per Family $226.52 $238.26
Per Day $7.55 $7.95
MO HealthNet (Medicaid)
Enrolled 851,944 894,627
Covered 902,027 937,782
Cost $840,653,682 $532,674,862
Per Patient $931.96 $568.02
Managed Care 621,983 445,191
MC Premium $254.71 $193.33
Food Stamps
Recipients 678,716 950,889
Stamps Issued $81,602,513 $120,483,451
Per Person $120.23 $126.71
Per Meal $1.34 $1.41
Oh yes, in September 2019 just 68,010 St. Louis City residents received food stamps. The lowest number in my files, prior to this month, was just over 77,000 back at the turn of this century – in the midst of an economic boom.
https://dss.mo.gov/re/pdf/fsd_mhdmr/1909-family-support-mohealthnet-report.pdf
https://dss.mo.gov/re/pdf/fsd_mhdmr/01109.pdf
Glenn