CAMA – Chronic Acute Medical Assistance

MAGI – Modified Adjusted Gross Income

MAGI Acct. Transfers – Medicaid applications forwarded from the online Federally Facilitated Marketplace

MAGI Medicaid –Medicaid excluding types for elders and the disabled

Non-MAGI Medicaid -- Medicaid for elders and disabled individuals

EIS – The “legacy” Eligibility Information System used to determine benefits for all programs except MAGI Medicaid

ARIES – Alaska’s Resource for Integrated Eligibility Services, the division’s new system to determine eligibility for MAGI Medicaid

Important Information:

If you have submitted an application for assistance in the last 90 days and have not received a notice informing you of the status of your application:

• You do not ~need to submit a new application.

• Your eligibility for benefits will be based on the date your original application was received.

• You will receive benefits for each month in which you are found eligible.

• You can call the IVR line at 269-5777 or 1-888-804-6330 for information about your case status.

Please note:

• In order to focus staff efforts on addressing the out of date workload and to ensure benefits are issued as timely as possible to eligible Alaskans, our offices will have limited services available on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings from 8am – 12 noon. Our offices will remain open for urgent needs during these hours.

• All Division of Public Assistance Field Offices are experiencing very high volumes of calls from applicants and recipients.  Please be aware that delays in responding to calls are likely and wait times may be prolonged.

Pregnant Women

If you have submitted an application for Pregnant Woman Medicaid and have not received a notice informing you of the status of your application, please call 1-844-864-2229 (BABY).  Please be prepared to provide your case number, your full name, social security number, and a valid phone number.

Medical Emergencies

Please call 1-844-231-7880, if you submitted an application for Medicaid and someone is experiencing an emergent need for medical assistance such as:

• Medical procedures to address a life threatening illness or injury

• Travel for high risk medical procedures

• Prescriptions that need to be filled

For information about community resources that may help you until your application is processed, please call 2-1-1.

The Division has been very successful meeting the needs of the almost 210,000 Alaskans served every year by the Eligibility Technicians and Office Assistants in offices across the state. However, the complexity of new Medicaid program rules, delays in the development and implementation of a computer system designed to streamline Medicaid eligibility determinations, and work volumes that exceed 8,000 new applications per month have all contributed to delays in processing applications for assistance.

To address this challenge, the Division has:

• Authorized extensive overtime for Field Services staff charged with conducting eligibility determinations.

• Assigned other division staff to assist with duties and tasks that supports people providing direct service to our clients.

• Requested additional long-term non-permanent positions to assist the efforts of field staff.

• Established teams to focus solely on processing Medicaid applications which can be the most complex and time consuming to process.

Additional strategies are planned to help eliminate the backlog of work, to ensure the Alaskans in need receive the safety net services they need, and to support the successful implementation of Medicaid Expansion.  Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to address this temporary delay in application processing.