TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Lawmakers are voicing frustration after the state disclosed that a backlog in unprocessed Medicaid applications is four times as large as previously thought.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the disclosure late last week that Kansas had under-counted the number of unprocessed applications by 12,000 is drawing fresh attention to the state’s electronic eligibility system nearly a year into its troubled rollout.
Rep. Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, says the state needs to “figure this out” and described the problems as “getting pretty bad.” Kansas says a reporting problem from a contractor tasked with implementing the eligibility system produced the under-counting, not the eligibility system itself.
An official legislative inquiry will likely have to wait until August. House and Senate leadership have ruled out hearings during the upcoming special session.