LINCOLN — Starting Friday, Nebraska Medicaid will provide a full range of benefits to everyone enrolled under the voter-approved expansion program.
The benefits will match those covered under traditional Medicaid and fulfill the intent of the groups that backed the expansion ballot measure.
They will include physical and mental health care and prescription drugs, which have been covered previously, while adding dental, vision and over-the-counter medications, which had only been covered for some Medicaid expansion groups.
The change comes almost three years after passage of the November 2018 ballot initiative extending Medicaid eligibility to more low-income Nebraskans.
State officials have estimated that eventually 90,000 Nebraskans will sign up for the program. The state Department of Health and Human Services reported cumulative enrollment of 51,226 people through the end of August. The program was launched on Oct. 1 last year.
Medicaid officials said people currently enrolled in the Medicaid expansion program will get the new benefits automatically and will not need a new Medicaid card.
Expanded Medicaid offers coverage for working-age adults whose incomes fall below 138% of the federal poverty level — $17,774 for a single person or $36,570 for a family of four. Before the expansion, the only working-age adults who could qualify for Medicaid were very low-income people with minor children at home or low-income people who were officially determined to be disabled.
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