GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - Brown County is looking to hire ten additional staff and one temporary worker to handle an expected increase in applications for BadgerCare.
Everyone is required to have health insurance in 2014 under the Affordable Care Act, or face a tax penalty.
The county is serving a state contract for five area counties, called the Bay Lake Consortium. It consists of Brown, Door, Marinette, Octono, and Shawano counties.
Brown County Human Service Department Interim Executive Director of Jeremy Kral says according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, an estimated 40,000 people don’t have health insurance in the consortium area.
Staff will process applications, verify information, and determine eligibility.
Kral says not everyone who applies will be eligible for BadgerCare.
For those who don’t, staff will help them find health insurance under the state marketplace that should be available by October.
That’s also when BadgerCare open enrollment begins.
Kral says the staffing requirement is a federal mandate that the health care law is paying for. Reimbursement will depend on the caseload.
On Wednesday, the county board agenda includes a resolution which would approve hiring the additional staff and makes it clear that if the federal government does not provide funding for the staff, the positions will be eliminated.