Workshop addresses Medicaid benefits [The Moultrie Observer, Ga.]

Nov. 2—MOULTRIE — For people who have lost Medicaid benefits, a Georgia Enroll workshop was held Thursday at Southern Regional Technical College to offer some options to move forward.

According to a press release from the Georgia Legal Services Program (GLSP), more than 170,000 Georgians lost their Medicaid health insurance this year. The Georgia Enroll project provides in-person assistance, with a GLSP attorney, to people who attend one of the free workshops that are being held throughout Georgia in November.

"We help people to see what they're eligible for. We walk through everything with them," said Rebecca Willis, Licensed Navigator for Georgia Enroll with the Georgia Legal Services Program.

The workshops will help individuals who attend to either regain their Medicaid health benefits or find affordable health insurance in the Health Insurance Marketplace or other health insurance options.

Willis said that they can assess what the individual needs, whether it's a specific doctor that they want to continue seeing or a medication that they need to continue taking, and help them find the right health insurance plan that will address their needs.

"We cannot tell them this specific plan is good for you," she said and added that they can show them options of plans, based on their individual needs, that would work for them.

In the classroom where the workshop was being held, computers were set up so that individuals who attended could be taken through the online process of enrolling or checking their benefits.

"We're seeing a spike of people who are 62 or 63 and have lost their coverage and don't know where to go," she said of the individuals who have attended other workshops that were hosted across the state.

Another benefit Georgia Enroll program offers, Willis said, is that since they were partnered with the legal services program, they can refer an individual's case to a lawyer if they want to appeal their Medicaid eligibility status.

In April of this year, the state of Georgia started redetermining eligibility for all people who currently receive Medicaid or PeachCare coverage. Mail and emails were sent out in batches, and will continue to be sent out by the Georgia Department of Human Services, to individuals with instructions for what needs to be done to maintain their Medicaid coverage. Each individual is assigned a redetermination date that can be found on their Georgia Gateway account.

The last batches of redeterminations will be done starting March 15, 2024. All Medicaid redeterminations, pending eligibility actions, disenrollments and appeals have to be completed by May 31, 2024, according to federal guidelines.

Dec. 15 is the deadline to enroll for health coverage that will start Jan. 1, 2024, according to HealthCare.gov, and Jan. 15 is the last day to sign up to get a health plan through the Marketplace.

"Up until September, it's been kind of quiet but it's been picking up," Willis said of the increase in calls for appointments that she's gotten.

"We will come to you if you need us to. We will accommodate you to assist you with this process," she said.

To get assistance by phone, call the GLSP at (866) 442-3676 or go to https://www.glsp.org/gaenroll/.

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