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County hosts BadgerCare Plus outreach

JANESVILLE — A real, live person is guaranteed to be available at each of the Rock County Human Services Department outreach clinics to help families sign up for BadgerCare Plus.

Clinics will take place in Janesville, Beloit, Evansville, Clinton and Milton.

Volunteers will be available to help users navigate the Internet and clarify confusing questions as they pop up, said Carrie Braunreiter, BadgerCare Plus outreach coordinator. Volunteers also will help families know what to expect once they’ve applied and what they might need to do to verify the information.

The outreach program was funded by an $11,000 grant from the state, Economic Support Division Manager Cindy Sutton said.

Meanwhile, the number of families applying for health care through the Rock County Job Center has increased since the state of Wisconsin brought BadgerCare Plus online Feb. 1. BadgerCare Plus is one of the options at the job center.

BadgerCare Plus offers health insurance to all Wisconsin children, regardless of their parents’ income. The program expands coverage for pregnant women, young adults leaving foster care and the self-employed.

Medical assistance for the elderly and disabled has not changed.

It’s not clear exactly how the new program has increased the caseload at the job center, Sutton said.

She’s waiting on the state to come out with those numbers but so far has been told, “We’re working on it.”

Rock County had 13,662 cases as of the end of June, Sutton said.

The division gets “a lot more” applications than that because not everybody qualifies, Sutton said.

The county has seen about 95 new cases a month since Feb. 1, she said.

At that time, the caseload was 13,069, Sutton said.

While Sutton doesn’t know exactly how much of that increase can be attributed to BadgerCare Plus, she does know the county is serving an increase of 1,475 children, 760 adult caretakers—which includes parents, grandparents or other guardians—and 42 pregnant women.

That’s not the same as a “case,” Sutton said. For example, a case could be an entire family. In another instance, children would qualify but their parents wouldn’t.

The caseload boils down to 435 cases per worker, Sutton said.

In March, the county was serving 13,425 cases; that was 418 cases per worker.

TO ENROLL

Families have several options to enroll in BadgerCare Plus:

-- Go to www.badgercareplus.org or access.wisconsin.gov.

-- Call the Rock County Job Center at (608) 741-3488 for a phone interview or to ask for an application packet to be mailed to you.

-- Call 1-800-362-3002.

-- Visit the job center at 1900 Center Ave., Janesville, for a face-to-face interview.

Outreach

The Rock County Human Services Department will hold weekly outreach clinics for the next year in communities around the county:

Janesville:

-- Exchange Family Resource Center, 2020 E. Milwaukee St., 9 to 11 a.m. Mondays

-- Hedberg Public Library, 316 S. Main St., 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays

-- WIC Office, 32 E. Racine St., 10 a.m. to noon Mondays

Beloit

-- Beloit Office of Human Services, 64 Eclipse Center (Beloit Mall), 3 to 5 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays

-- Stateline Literacy Council (Latino Service Providers Coalition), 822 Broad St., 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Thursday (9 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Wednesday)

Clinton

-- Clinton Public Library, 214 Mill St., 10 a.m. to noon Fridays

Evansville

-- Evansville Youth Center, 209 S. 1st St., 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Thursdays

-- Evansville Senior Center, 320 Fair St., 10 a.m. to noon Wednesdays

Milton

-- Milton Public Library, 430 E. High St., 9 a.m. to noon Wednesdays