The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #66958

Denise Soffel, PhD, Community Service Society of NY, 105 East 22nd Street, New York, NY 10010, 212-614-5308, dsoffel@cssny.org, Kirsten L. Aspengren, Care for the Homeless, 12 West 21st Street, 8th floor, New York, NY 10010, and David C. Wunsch, Gay Men's Health Crisis, 119 West 24th Street, 9th floor, New York, NY 10011.

During the summer of 2002, the New York City Task Force on Medicaid Managed Care sent survey teams out to Medicaid offices to talk to people about their experiences trying to obtain Medicaid. Survey teams stood outside two Medicaid offices and spoke to people as they were leaving the centers about what they had just experienced inside. We interviewed a total of 192 people; about half the interviews were conducted in Spanish; 12 were conducted in Chinese and 2 in Arabic. The survey asked about several things: health status and recent health care utilization experiences; experiences relating to the application process itself, including the number of times the individual had returned to the Medicaid office, the length of time spent in the office, and documentation problems. We found that many people who are trying to get coverage have significant health problems, and often go without needed health care during the application process. 41% of individuals interviewed at the two Medicaid offices reported having a disability or a health condition requiring treatment. Problems documenting eligibility requirements are a principle barrier to obtaining Medicaid coverage. Problems documenting income and residence were most commonly cited. Nearly one-half (90) of individuals interviewed reported some sort of documentation problem. Of those whose primary language was not English (110 or 57% of total), 68 reported documentation problems, a higher percentage than the overall.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will be able to:
• Identify the administrative barriers to enrollment in Medicaid that are experienced by New York City residents; articulate the impact of language barriers in the application process; describe the consequences of these barriers to people’s health.

Keywords: Medicaid, Barriers to Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.