UPDATED MEDICAID TERMINATION NUMBERS
Throughout the summer, we are publishing the NDNRC Update on a biweekly basis.
The Kaiser Family Foundation continues to update their Medicaid Enrollment and Unwinding Tracker with the latest figures and data on monthly Medicaid enrollment, renewals, and disenrollments. As of June 27, 2023, over 1.5 million Medicaid enrollees have lost coverage. State-level data is included in the Kaiser tracker including the disenrollment rates of 24 states who have submitted that information. Disenrollment rates range from a high of 81% (South Carolina) to 16% (Virginia).
In one of the most recent blog posts by the Georgetown Center for Children and Families, they examine some of the differences which are occurring with the data being reported on the Medicaid unwinding.
As part of our partnership with Community Catalyst, we have a project which highlights opportunities for people with disabilities to get access to health coverage through Medicaid or the ACA marketplace. As part of this project, they have graphics like the one below which highlight the need for people to update their contact information with Medicaid. These are available in the Community Catalyst Outreach Hub and on the Organizing for Outreach materials page.
CMS has updated program enrollment information, reporting that in March 2023, 86.7 million individuals relied on Medicaid coverage, with 9.4 million enrollees being people with disabilities. The average Medicaid expenditure for a person with disabilities is $23,196 and accounts for 32.8% of total Medicaid expenditures.
A research update from Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families has highlighted the persistence of poverty in states that have not expanded their Medicaid programs, with 46% of persistently poor counties falling in these states. Counties with persistent poverty and a high reliance on Medicaid for health coverage are at great risk for coverage loss during the Medicaid unwinding, showing the need for effective outreach and communication to enrollees.
Many older adults are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid and Justice in Aging has created factsheets to make sure those populations know that Medicare Part D Low Income Subsidy (LIS) states that Medicaid termination does not immediately stop LIS enrollment and LIS eligibility allows for enrollees to obtain low cost prescription drugs through the end of the year.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation hosted an ACA Marketplace Network Adequacy & Usability webinar, with recording, slide deck, and meeting transcript made available. This webinar focused on Marketplace rules and opportunities for advocates, insights from Marketplace plan secret shoppers, and patient challenges.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has announced two webinars that they will be conducting this summer to help assisters in preparing for the fall open enrollment and what assisters can do with plan selection tools. The specific topics and dates and times for these webinars can be found in our news item.
Unwinding the Medicaid continuous coverage requirement has begun in many states, and people have started losing their Medicaid eligibility. Over the last couple months we have been updating our “Medicaid Unwinding Resources” blog post which has links to various resources including our Medicaid unwinding flyer and the Kaiser Tracker referenced above.
The Georgetown Center on Health Insurance Reforms recently posted in their blog about their testimony to a House subcommittee on strengthening healthcare markets.
The Kaiser Family Foundation published a recent analysis which looks at how much more money in federal dollars went to the states as part of the increased federal matching percentage provided as part of the Medicaid continuous coverage requirement. Kaiser estimates that states received an additional $117 billion over the three years of the Public Health Emergency.
Archives of our weekly updates are available on the NDNRC website.