Many Left in Medicaid Limbo in S.C.

Thousands of South Carolina residents who filed for Medicaid between October and mid-July are still waiting to find out if they qualify for the government's low-income health insurance program.

While most Medicaid applications are typically approved or denied within six days, the state agency responsible for processing the paperwork hasn't been able to keep pace with an influx from HealthCare.gov.

More than 43,000 South Carolina Medicaid applications were submitted through the new federal health insurance marketplace between Oct. 1 and July 13, but the S.C. Department of Health and Human Services has only managed to make its way through 25 percent of them.

Nevertheless, agency officials have promised the federal government that they will finish the rest within 20 working days.

The state recently assigned more employees to the task, implemented new productivity standards and offered volunteers additional hours to make sure that goal is met.

"I think what we know from most other states, they are in very similar positions," said S.C. Medicaid Director Tony Keck.

South Carolina is one of about half of all states that will not expand Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act.

Still, application volume is running high, in part because of an aggressive federal marketing strategy launched alongside the new insurance marketplace.

The agency continues to process additional applications filed through its own website, by phone or in person.

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