BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — More than 197,000 people have been enrolled in Louisiana’s Medicaid expansion program, ahead of the July 1 start of the insurance coverage.
The Department of Health announced the figures Wednesday.
Most of the enrollment is not from people actively signing up, however.
Nearly 187,000 people who already receive a limited list of health services from the state were automatically signed up for the Medicaid expansion by the health department because they were deemed eligible.
The remaining enrollees registered for the health insurance online, by phone, in person — or because they were food stamp recipients determined to also be eligible for the Medicaid coverage.
Medicaid expansion will cover adults ages 19 to 64 making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, about $33,400 for a family of four.