Loosing Medicaid Coverage? More than a Million People have for No Real Reason!

Millions of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Plan enrollees are having their eligibility reviewed for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began. Nearly 1.3 million people in 22 states have had their coverage terminated since April 1, when states were allowed to start dropping people for the first time since the pandemic began. Of great concern to federal officials and advocates is that 76% of those losing coverage have been disenrolled for so-called procedural reasons, which typically happens when enrollees do not complete the renewal application, often because it may have been sent to an old address, it was difficult to understand or it wasn’t returned by the deadline. Most Medicaid enrollees are not aware that states can now resume terminating those deemed ineligible. The redetermination process is a huge lift for states. Adding to the challenge is that during the hiatus, Medicaid enrollment ballooned by more than 22 million people. Overall, most people whose renewal reviews were completed retained their coverage.