Expanding Medicaid to Low-Income Childless Adults Under Health Reform: Key Lessons From State Experiences

The health reform law will expand Medicaid to millions of low-income adults, including many childless adults who have historically been ineligible for the program, necessitating one of the largest enrollment efforts in the program’s history. This report, based on interviews with officials in seven states and the District of Columbia and national experts, examines lessons learned from past state experience covering childless adults through waiver and state-funded programs and profiles the programs included in the study.

The report finds that many best practices for enrolling parents and children in Medicaid will apply to childless adults, but successful efforts will also require new strategies and messages given their historic ineligibility for Medicaid, limited connection to public programs, fluctuating incomes and language and cultural barriers. Further, more needs to be learned about the health needs of this group and how best to deliver and manage their care. Given the significance and size of the expansion, it will be imperative for states to be ready and prepared with the necessary systems, technology, and administrative capacity in place to process enrollments and coordinate coverage and care with the new Health Insurance Exchanges.

Report (.pdf)