California analyst assesses PPACA projections

Getting uninsured people to use the new health insurance exchange system may take several years to ramp up, but, in some cases, exchange processes could make public health program managers’ lives easier.

Mac Taylor, a legislative analyst in the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, touched on those thoughts recently in a look at how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) might interact with state budget forecasts and assumptions.

For California, at least, the introduction of PPACA will mean more use of electronic data in Medicaid program eligibility verification and simplification of the methods used to determine financial eligibility, Taylor wrote in a letter to a state Sen. Bill Monning, chair of the state Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

Because of the increased use of electronic data, “the amount of paperwork that an applicant will need to submit will likely be reduced, thereby potentially encouraging more people to apply for the program,” Taylor said.