A new computer system and more frequent eligibility checks have helped the much-maligned Louisiana Medicaid expansion program get on track. After two rounds of quarterly checks, the number enrolled has dropped from 505,503 to 454,638 as of July 2.

Medicaid is the federal-state health care program for low-income Americans. Expansion of the program became possible under the Affordable Care Act commonly referred to as Obamacare. Those who qualify are people who make up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, which is $33,534 annually for a family of four.

Gov. John Bel Edwards expanded Medicaid when he took office, and 36 states and the District of Columbia have now expanded their coverage. Other Southern states that have expanded Medicaid are Arkansas, Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia.

A small group of GOP legislators in the Louisiana House has attacked the program annually, and changes they have proposed have been unsuccessful.

Jen Steele, Medicaid director for the Louisiana Department of Health, told The Advocate, “I think we probably need a little time to say definitively, but our belief is we’re beginning to normalize. We had a lot of change with the new system.”

The newspaper said the latest figures show a smaller drop in enrollment, falling from 457,243 to 454,638 from June to July. Steele said the volatility in the numbers will level off as the state continues to do quarterly wage checks. LDH previously did only annual wage checks while awaiting a new computer system.

The numbers dropped by 30,000 in April after the new eligibility system went into effect and determined those people earn too much to receive the health care coverage. However, Bob Johannessen, a spokesman for LDH, said the people who lost coverage because of the new eligibility system qualified for the program when they first enrolled.

Officials said the vast majority of people who did not respond to letters urging them to verify their incomes lost their coverage. At the end of June, another 11,500 lost their coverage for the same reason. Steele said since then, about 7 percent of the people who lost coverage have returned to the program.

Salaries of many citizens change because of the nature of their work, and that explains why they may lose coverage and eventually qualify again. Many people are currently trying to verify that they still qualify. Wage checks will occur again in August.

We urge critics to give the state’s Medicaid expansion system more time to get an accurate picture of whether it is working as it should.