Medicaid recertification under the Affordable Care Act (ACA)

On October 1, 2016 the state of Ohio expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). There were changes in eligibility determination for people like me over a certain income. I had to set up a Qualified Income Trust (QIT) and all my funds that go to the nursing facility and that pay my other itemize expenses go into that account.

I wondered how eligibility would be under that new system. Well, I found out. I just got the form. It ended up being twelve pages long.

But the good news is, there wasn't much that I had to fill out. I just had to reenter identification information, my tax status, my employment status, my insurance status, and questions about income and filing taxes.

Even though the form is lengthy, there are many parts that do not apply to me. I was able to breeze through it pretty quickly and complete it.

In previous years I was asked for bank statements, tax returns, my on hand cash balance, and if there were any other bills that I was paying that Ohio Job and Family Services did not know about. It wasn't really that difficult. I got used to that system. Now I have to learn another new system.

I may do what I did last year and again in January, send my financial information to Ohio Job and Family Services anyway. That way they will know exactly what my status is.

The strangest question on the form was if I would allow Ohio Job and Family Services to access my IRS records and if so, for how many years. I agreed today they could do it for one year. I thought if there was any problem and they needed more records, they could contact me.

Sending out the application, and allowing the ability to do it online has to be a lot easier on everyone. I just wonder why the old eligibility criteria, at least some of the financial stuff, does not seem to be required.

In previous years, I was notified by phone that my recertification had gone through. This year that process may be different since they have my email address.

Being able to email Job and Family Services would be so much easier, and would involve less expense than faxing applications and documentation.