State Medicaid numbers up since expansion

While state officials say they’re not sure how many West Virginians have signed up for private health insurance under the Affordable Care Act last week, more than 50,000 are now covered by Medicaid under the state’s expansion of the program.Those numbers come from just the first week of enrollment under the ACA’s health care exchange.

Department of Health and Human Resources Assistant Secretary Jeremiah Samples said the state does not yet have access to the number of West Virginians who have signed up for health coverage through the federal exchange, but 1,932 people have signed up for Medicaid through the state internet portal called inRoads.

Another 47,752 West Virginians found they were eligible for Medicaid by visiting their county DHHR offices and signing up in person.

Samples said last week more than 45,000 people were enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program before the exchange opened through auto enrollment letters sent out and returned to the DHHR.

That puts the number of West Virginians newly enrolled in Medcaid at nearly 100,000, Samples said exceeding the state’s expectations for the first week.