July 2005 Newsletter
Volume 5, Number 1
A New Home
By Mary Ellen O'Brien Wright, Working Healthy Program Director
During the 2005 legislative session, the Kansas Legislature opted to move a number of health care programs, including the Kansas Medicaid program, under a new health care authority. The Kansas Medicaid program is scheduled to move from the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS) to the Department of Administration (DOA) on July 1, 2005. While at the DOA, Medicaid, and other health care programs such as state employee health insurance, will be called the Division of Health Policy and Finance (DHPF). Eventually the DHPF will become its own entity.
Legislators decided to move Working Healthy and the Medicaid Infrastructure
Grant that supports the program, previously under the SRS Division of Health
Care Policy, to the new DHPF. While program administration and policy will
be under the DHPF, the Benefits Specialists and program eligibility will
remain with SRS. Enrollees services will not be affected by this move.
Working Healthy's Medicare Part D Outreach Efforts
By Nancy Scott, Working Healthy Benefits Specialist Team Leader
Medicare Part D is coming. Beginning January 1, 2006, coverage of prescription
drugs will change from Medicaid to the new Medicare Part D for those who are
dually eligible. This means that for people with Medicare and Medicaid coverage
Medicare Part D will now cover prescription drugs, not Medicaid. Working Healthy
staff will be traveling to various SRS Offices throughout the state in the next
few weeks and months to provide information about Medicare Part D to community
agencies and to beneficiaries. Staff will present information, answer questions
and facilitate discussion regarding Medicare Part D. Staff want participants
to know that we do not have all the answers about this new program, as it is
still in development, but feel that it’s not too early to share the information
we do have and provide some tips on how to prepare for this change.
Some of the information to be shared will include:
•
If a person is Medicaid and Medicare eligible he or she will qualify for “help” with
premiums.
• People who have both Medicaid and Medicare will need to enroll in a Medicare
drug plan and the options will be available in October 2005; persons who do
not select a plan will be automatically enrolled in one.
• In the coming months beneficiaries will receive letters from the Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) explaining the upcoming changes.
• Contact information for future questions or concerns.
Presentation dates for agency staff have been confirmed and are available
online at:
http://www.workinghealthy.org/PartDOutreach.html. Presentations for beneficiaries
will be scheduled soon. We will be sending invitation letters and presentation
dates to all Working Healthy enrollees. Presentation times will include some
evenings to accommodate work schedules. The website listed above will also
be kept up-to-date and include all dates for agency and beneficiary presentations.
We hope that you will take advantage of these presentations and that they will
help you to gain a better understanding of Medicare Part D. We are asking that
if you wish to attend one of these presentations you RSVP to one of the Working
Healthy Benefits Specialists or to Nancy Scott at nas@srskansas.org or call
at
(785) 291-3461. Please let us know if you need any accommodations or accessible
materials.
Benefits Specialist Corner
This issue features Working Healthy Benefits Specialist
Dan Hallacy from the Pittsburg Area SRS office. Dan can be contacted by phone
at (620) 231-5300 ext. 330 or by E-mail at CDLH@srskansas.org.
"
I enjoy watching sporting events at the local level where participants are
still doing it for the pure enjoyment of the sport. I have always tried to
be involved in helping to plan, organize or assist in anyway I can to help
area youth enjoy their time involved in their sport.
I am somewhat of an electronics junkie when it comes to high tech gizmos as all my fellow Benefit specialist can attest to, from wireless computing to carrying around a wi-fi locator.
I enjoy grilling out when at home and am always on the lookout for a good barbecue
restaurant.
I enjoy a different path and new scenery and I think that’s why I enjoy
being a Benefit Specialist, because the information and resourses change so
rapidly.
Right now all of us are gearing up for the start of Medicare Part D and trying
to help all we can to understand and feel comfortable with this new program.
We know there is some anxiety out there concerning these changes in medical
care but we want all of the individuals we work with to feel they have access
to the
correct information and someone they can contact to obtain it. Hopefully we
will be able to relieve their worries about these changes.
We intend for this “Medicaid Buy-in” program and “benefit assistance” program
to be one of the best in the nation and to remain as one of the best in the
nation. When we have lost great staff from our program we have been fortunate
in getting
great new people to replace them. We have also been blessed in keeping a staff
with a variety of experiences and educational backgrounds that helps to complement
our program by melding into a unique knowledge base.”
-Dan Hallacy Working Healthy Benefits Specialist
Working Healthy Enrollment Continues to Rise
By Noelle K. Kurth, KU Evaluation Team
The number of individuals enrolled in Working Healthy has continued to rise at a steady rate since the program began in July 2002 (see Figure 1). Enrollment in Working Healthy over the past two years has increased approximately 10% every six months. While enrollment continues to grow, each month some individuals also dis-enroll from the program for various reasons. Loss of employment, worsening health conditions, relocation out of state, and difficulties paying premiums are the most frequent reasons individuals cite for disenrollment. Disenrollment from the program has also remained quite constant. Since January 2004, an average of 12 individuals dis-enroll from Working Healthy each month. It is important to note that some of these people do re-enroll. For example, in 2004 thirty individuals who had dis-enrolled from Working Healthy re-enrolled in the program sometime during the same year.
As enrollment in Working Healthy has grown, the percentage of enrollees who
pay premiums has also consistently risen (see Figure 1). Not only has the number
of individuals paying premiums each month increased, the average monthly premium
paid by Working Healthy enrollees increased from $62.10 in 2003 to $70.77 in
2004, indicating increased earnings by participants. As numbers of enrollees,
premium payers and average monthly premiums increase, the amount billed for
Working Healthy coverage likewise continues to increase. In the last quarter
of 2004 (October-December), premiums totaled $104,003 and in the first quarter
of 2005 (January-March) premiums totaled $110,913. While the greatest number
of individuals fall into the lowest premium bracket of $55.00 per month (n=242,
43%), as of May 2005, 26 individuals (5% of total premium payers) are paying
from $130-$186 monthly for their Working Healthy coverage.
For additional information regarding the data and statistics of Kansas’ Working
Healthy program, annual data reports to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS) for 2003 and 2004 are available at our web site: http://www.workinghealthy.org.
FIGURE ONE INFORMATION
Title: Kansas Working Healthy Monthly Enrollment
July 2002: enrollment = 248, 20% paid a premium
January 2003: enrollment = 531, 53% paid a premium
June 2003: enrollment = 614, 58% paid a premium
January 2004: enrollment = 694, 61% paid a premium
June 2004: enrollment = 764, 60% paid a premium
January 2005: enrollment = 844, 62% paid a premium
This newsletter and other Working Healthy information can be found
online at: http://das.kucrl.org/medicaid.html
Working Healthy is published quarterly by theUniversity of Kansas CRL, Division
of Adult Studies and
in cooperation with the Kansas Department of Social and
Rehabilitation
Services.Additional copies and
copies in alternate formats are available upon request by writing the University
of Kansas
Division of Adult Studies, Attn: Noelle, 1122 West Campus Rd.. JRP Hall
Rm. 517, Lawrence, KS 66045, by phone (785) 864-7085, by email: pixie@ku.edu
KU Research Team:
Jean Hall, Principal Investigator
Noelle Kurth, Project Coordinator and Editor
Dan Cox, Graduate Research Assistant
SRS, Division of Health Care Policy:
Mary Ellen O'Brien Wright, Program Director
Nancy Scott, Benefits Specialist Team Leader