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Many of the families with children who are currently eligible for Family Medicaid or BadgerCare and have chosen not to enroll, need to be provided with information that shows that the program is easier to understand and easier to access. The State’s full-time outreach coordinator is responsible for making sure that everyone in Wisconsin who has a child knows that Family Medicaid and BadgerCare are available to help them meet their health care needs. Using data on population, family health and the uninsured, the outreach coordinator has identified specific geographic locations in Wisconsin with low health care penetration rates and is working collaboratively with local and statewide groups, including the Robert Wood Johnson-funded Covering Kids and Families Initiative, to identify and enroll children who meet program requirements in those areas.

In addition, BadgerCare Plus proposes to simplify the program rules through Medicaid and SCHIP State Plan amendments and modify the current BadgerCare waiver by removing income disregards and deductions in ways that make the program easier for the average parent to understand and allows them to ascertain on their own that their income meets the limits being proposed.

Finally, we realize that some families find the application for assistance at their county human or social services office to be a barrier to their participation. In 1999, Wisconsin allowed each applicant and program participant to choose how they want to apply. Families can apply through the mail, over the phone or in- person. In addition, beginning in 2006 Wisconsin had deployed an innovative tool, www.access.wisconsin.gov, that allows for a five to ten minute assessment of eligibility, the ability to apply on-line in twenty to thirty minutes, the ability to see case information and manage your own case and to report changes to the eligibility worker from an Internet-connected personal computer or laptop. At this time, 14% of our applications are done using ACCESS. With BadgerCare Plus we plan to use our marketing and outreach efforts to aggressively push ACCESS as the preferred method for interaction between the program and the member. We also have begun working to identify community partners, including clinics, hospitals, schools, food pantries, churches, etc., who can use ACCESS to help those low-income families who come to their organization for help to apply for and manage their public assistance Under state and federal law, we allow for an electronic signature for applications made using ACCESS.

2.2.2 The steps the state is currently taking to identify and enroll all uncovered children who are eligible to participate in health insurance programs that involve a public-private partnership.

See 2.2.1

WISCONSIN

Effective Date:

Approval Date: 8