Feds raise concerns about long call center wait times as millions dropped from Medicaid
Federal officials are raising concerns that long call center wait times may be contributing to a surge in the number of people losing Medicaid health care coverage
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — As millions of Medicaid recipients face the potential loss of health coverage for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic, state call centers are getting inundated with questions from people needing help. In some cases, federal officials say, it’s taking too long to get answers.
Nearly one-third of the states have received warnings from federal Medicaid officials that their lengthy call center wait times may be causing people to hang up — and give up — as they attempt to renew Medicaid coverage amid a massive nationwide effort to clean up the rolls of the government health insurance program for lower-income residents.
Some advocates have offered to function like placeholders in a long line for concert or sports tickets — waiting on hold so Medicaid recipients can do other things.
“If you call a call center and you have a sort of significant wait, you oftentimes are neglecting your work duties, you’re neglecting needs of your family, otherwise growing impatient," said Matt Slonaker, executive director of the Utah Health Policy Project, a nonprofit that assists Medicaid recipients. "What we’ve seen anecdotally over and over again is people giving up.”
