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@@@ There was the young woman who could no longer afford her mental health medication after she no longer had Medicaid coverage. An estimated 2,300 former foster youth 鈥?these two examples included 鈥?are now eligible to remain on the state鈥檚 Medicaid program until age 26. Some advocates are worried, however, that not enough former foster children are being enrolled into the program. That change in eligibility is thanks to a provision of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, that expanded the Medicaid program to allow young people who were in foster care when they turned 18 to remain on the state health insurance coverage plan until age 26. The change went into effect Jan. 1 of this year. Since that time only a fraction of Oklahoma鈥檚 former foster care youth have been enrolled in Oklahoma鈥檚 Medicaid program. Merrill and other advocates say computer glitches have caused many applicants to be denied. Like the woman who could no longer afford her medicine. Without <a href=http://www.alportico.net/gosoc.php> true religion uk</a> her medication, she was having thoughts of harming herself, Merrill said. 鈥淎t one point, she called me and said she was scared of what would happen if she didn鈥檛 get health care soon,鈥?said Merrill, lead attorney for the medical-legal partnership initiative at Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma. During the past eight months, coding issues between state agency systems have caused some eligible foster care youth to be denied when they apply. Although agency officials say the system鈥檚 glitches are worked out, Merrill and other advocates have voiced frustration with the process. 鈥淚 still have kids who are being denied,鈥?Merrill said. 鈥淚f they fixed the entire problem, how is it possible that I still have kids being denied?鈥? 鈥業nterim procedure鈥? The Oklahoma Health Care Authority, the state鈥檚 Medicaid agency, and the state Department of Human Services have worked together to implement the eligibility changes. Katelynn Burns, a DHS spokeswoman, said there have been some initial challenges to the implementation of the online application process. 鈥淒HS and Oklahoma Health Care Authority have been working together to resolve the problems,鈥?Burns said. 鈥淎n interim procedure has been established. Once DHS child welfare services has been advised that an eligible youth has been denied, an email is forwarded to Oklahoma Health Care Authority. The issue has usually been resolved within 24 hours.鈥? Jennie Melendez, a health care authority spokeswoman, added that the agency was told about the issues related to using the <a href=http://www.alportico.net/prodotti/christianlouboutin-sale.jkmsw.php>Cheap Christian Louboutin</a> correct custody codes from DHS to create a way for the authority鈥檚 system to recognize the foster care population. 鈥淪ince that time, we have made the necessary updates to back-date eligibility where appropriate,鈥?Melendez said. Oklahoma is not the only state that has faced difficulties in implementing the enrollment changes. Tricia Brooks, senior fellow at the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, said she has seen confusion among different states about how to best implement the changes to the Medicaid program to include former foster youth. 鈥淚 think some states haven鈥檛 quite figured it all out yet, but I鈥檓 certainly aware of states that are being more progressive, if you will, in terms of wanting to reach the former foster youth and make it simplified for them to get into coverage,鈥?<a href=http://capstone.edu.sg/clreplicashoes.php> Christian Louboutin Outlet Online</a> Brooks said. To qualify for Medicaid, these youths must be younger than 26 and have been enrolled in Medicaid and in foster care custody under the responsibility of the state or a tribe when they aged out, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Beginning Jan. 1, any former foster youth in Oklahoma who met these qualifications could sign up. But up until June, many hadn鈥檛. Agency records show that between Jan 1. and June 30, 117 former foster youth signed up to stay on Medicaid, with 103 of them enrolling in June. Cathy Connelly, program manager of the Oklahoma Independent Living Program, said that over the past few months she has seen state agency employees work together to resolve the coding issues that caused young people to be denied, sometimes repeatedly. On Wednesday, Connelly got a text message, telling her about another former foster youth who had been denied on his Medicaid application. Connelly, who works with foster youth under a DHS contract, used to get texts and calls like this daily. Over the past few weeks, though, that鈥檚 decreased to about one per week, she said. Application denial issues are getting resolved more quickly as the agencies work together and advocates continue to raise awareness of the youth they represent, she said. 鈥淏efore we weren鈥檛 sure what was happening, and so we weren鈥檛 able to respond to them quickly,鈥?Connelly said. 鈥淎nd now, like I said, it was a text I got yesterday until today, and it鈥檚 resolved.鈥?
