An estimated 90,000 low-income working Nebraskans who will become eligible for Medicaid coverage on Oct. 1 may begin applying for coverage on Saturday.
Typical newly eligible recipients would include restaurant employees and retail clerks and a range of people often described as the working poor.
Nebraskans who are eligible are age 19-64 and earn up to 138% of the federal poverty level, or about $17,000 a year for a single person or $36,000 for a family of four.
Basic coverage includes services such as doctor office visits, hospital visits and prescription drugs.
Some recipients may also qualify for dental, vision and over-the-counter drug coverage, but those benefits require some wellness and personal responsibility activities and await approval of the state’s plan by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Nebraska voters approved Medicaid expansion in the November general election in 2018, but coverage has been delayed almost two years while the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services built a new program.