Individuals who enjoy working with the public and have excellent interpersonal skills should consider a career as an eligibility specialist. Working in a government agency or the healthcare industry is common for this position. An eligibility specialist’s primary responsibility is to provide information about financial aid programs and to determine who qualifies for assistance. As a result, some common job responsibilities include responding to public inquiries, conducting interviews, checking references, approving or denying financial aid, and documenting each case.
A large part of this job entails responding to a variety of public inquiries on a daily basis. When people have questions about various healthcare or government programs, they usually turn to an eligibility specialist for answers. Depending on the agency for which he works, he may be in charge of learning about just one program or several. An eligibility specialist must have expertise, in-depth knowledge of each financial aid program, and significant people skills in order to perform this duty effectively.
Another important aspect of this job is conducting interviews with applicants. The specialist will usually meet with an applicant to discuss their financial aid needs for this practice. An eligibility specialist might ask questions about the applicant’s health history, current health insurance plan, and other relevant information if the applicant is seeking healthcare coverage, for example. He’ll also check the application to make sure it’s filled out correctly and that the applicant appears to be qualified.
An eligibility specialist will frequently check the applicant’s references after he has interviewed the applicant and all of the information appears to be correct. In order to determine the validity of an applicant’s claims, this usually entails contacting employers and personal references. Before an applicant can be approved for assistance, it is frequently necessary to verify this information.
An eligibility specialist will either approve or deny an application after conducting an initial interview and contacting some references. If the application is approved, he will review all pertinent information and provide the applicant with additional paperwork. When denying an application, he will explain why it was denied and what steps can be taken to obtain financial aid in the future.
Documenting each case is an additional aspect of this job. In the vast majority of cases, an eligibility specialist will be required to complete paperwork and enter data into a computer. This practice aids in the organization of each applicant’s files, which can then be reviewed if necessary. It is beneficial for an individual to be organized in order to perform this action effectively.