Transforming State Health Coverage in Louisiana

The success of Maximizing Enrollment in Louisiana highlights the potential that states have to enroll more eligible children in government insurance programs—and keep those already enrolled from falling off. An initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Maximizing Enrollment is empowering Louisiana and seven other states to improve their systems, policies and procedures. The program provides an in-depth assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of each state's current Medicaid and CHIP enrollment and retention systems, and assists them with implementation strategies to cover more eligible but unenrolled children and to measure their progress.

The results have been striking in all eight states. In Louisiana, for example, 22 percent of eligible children would fall off the rolls annually, now that number has been brought down significantly. Community outreach efforts in Louisiana have helped new families get public health coverage for the first time. And a new program, "Express Lane Eligibility," is automatically enrolling eligible children whose families meet the stringent criteria for food stamps. The changes brought about by Maximizing Enrollment are improving the morale of eligibility workers and analysts while reducing administrative burdens and achieving significant efficiencies and cost savings.

In addition to Louisiana, the states participating in Maximizing Enrollment, selected through a competitive grant application process, are Alabama, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Published October 25, 2011 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation