This report, from SHARE grantee Stan Dorn of the Urban Institute, details findings from an analysis of Louisiana's landmark used of automated Medicaid enrollment via Express Lane Eligibility (ELE), a strategy authorized by the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA).  Under this initiative Louisiana automatically enrolled children into Medicaid based on data matches indicating eligibility for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).  Dorn and his co-authors analyze the impact of ELE on several outcomes including enrollment, coverage, administrative costs, and administrative efficiency, offering a number of lessons for other states considering the use of ELE for public program eligiblity determination.

The Iowa Department of Revenue (IDR) and the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) collaborated in 2008 in order to collect necessary information via tax forms to decide which Iowa children are uninsured yet meet the requirements to qualify for Iowa’s CHIP or Medicaid. Iowa used tax forms to determine which children had family incomes that met the Medicaid and CHIP requirements but were not enrolled in these programs. After identifying eligible kids who are not yet enrolled, DHS sends pamphlets and applications to the identified families. The families then become aware of the programs and their children’s eligibility.