Alaska: 27 people enrolled in ACA Medicaid expansion, 39,973 to go...

• State OKs 27 Alaskans for benefits on 1st day of Medicaid expansion

Twenty-seven Alaskans were approved for benefits under Medicaid expansion Tuesday, the first day of the broadened health care program, the state Department of Health and Social Services announced Wednesday.

According to state officials, about 40,000 people are potentially eligible for the expansion program, although as Xpostfactoid pointed out a month or so ago, the Kaiser Family Foundation has a much lower estimate (more like 11,000).

Either way, the actual number enrolled or in the process is quite a bit higher than just 27...

At least 252 people submitted paper applications Tuesday related to Medicaid expansion at Division of Public Assistance offices, said Sarana Schell, public information officer for the health department. Another 104 Alaskans submitted Medicaid applications online, though the state could not say whether they were taking advantage of the expanded program or were filing under the old rules, said Tammie Walker, acting chief of field services for the state's Division of Public Assistance.

Before Tuesday, the state transferred about 500 Alaskans from other programs to Medicaid because they qualified under the new rules and would get better benefits, said Chris Ashenbrenner, the state’s Medicaid expansion project director.

This last group would fall into the "Bulk Transfer" column of The Spreadsheet, joining the 950,000 or so from other states who were transferred over from existing state-run public healthcare programs into Medicaid proper.

Anyway, that's a total of around 883 people in the first day. Not bad out of 11-40,000 total!