One unintended consequence of the Affordable Care Act has been the increasing number of Medicaid applications.
Alaskans who began signing up through the healthcare.gov marketplace were directed to contact the state for possible Medicaid assistance if they earn less than 138% of the federal poverty line, which sits at $20,313 in Alaska.
The problem is that from the time the applications began to rise in January 2014 until now, Medicaid still hasn’t been expanded.
The local office of the Division of Public Assistance says applications went from an average 200 per month to 576 in January last year and then to 800 in February. The numbers have remained steady ever since as state workers determine which Alaskans to enroll in Medicaid.
The system has more than 9,200 applications yet to be processed.