People enrolling in Missouri's Medicaid health care program soon could do so online instead of through paper applications.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the state has awarded a $147 million contract to a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,-based company called EngagePoint to set up the new system. About 90 percent of the money is coming from the federal government.
Alyson Campbell is the director of the state's Family Support Division, which determines Medicaid eligibility. She says the agency will need fewer employees with the new system, which can cross-check applicants' incomes and their citizenship with other government databases.
Part of the online system should be ready Oct 1. That's also when people can begin shopping online for private insurance through a federally run health insurance exchange.
