OVER 5.6 MILLION HAVE LOST MEDICAID COVERAGE
As of September 7, over 5.6 million Medicaid enrollees have lost covered, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Disenrollment ranges from each state, with extremes of 72% of enrollees losing coverage in Texas to 9% in Michigan. As the trend continues, 73% of all people disenrolled had their coverage terminated for procedural reasons, with some states pausing procedural terminations to address systemic issues in state renewal processes.
Overall, 73% of disenrollments have been due to procedural reasons, such as issues with mail delivery, backlogging of returned forms, or compliance issues with federal regulations according to a data analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation. In response to these high rates, most states are adopting techniques from the Center on Medicare and Medicaid Services on minimizing procedural terminations.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) is running their fall Beyond the Basics webinar series which provides training for assisters to prepare. The first webinar on September 12 will discuss the rules used to determine household size and explain what counts as income when determining eligibility for premium tax credits and Medicaid. For a complete list of the dates and times for the entire webinar series, check out our news item which also has links for the slides and video recording of webinars which have been archived.
Children who are born to women that utilized benefits from Medicaid pregnancy expansions were found to have better health outcomes than those born to women that did not have Medicaid, as reported by the Georgetown Center for Children and Families. This study by the American Economic Association also found that children in the next generation had improved health outcomes, highlighting the multigenerational benefits of Medicaid.
The Center on Medicare and Medicaid Services sent a letter to all 50 states requiring them to determine eligibility systems issues that could cause adults and children to be disenrolled from Medicaid or CHIP even if they are still eligible for coverage with requirements to immediately correct this problem. The importance of maintaining coverage for vulnerable populations and avoiding federal oversight to state programs was reiterated in the letter.
Previously, we reported on proposed rules from CMS which would limit short-term, limited duration health insurance plans. The Georgetown Center on Health Insurance Reforms has two new blog posts which look at this type of coverage and what the Biden Administration is doing about them:
- The Perfect Storm: Misleading Marketing of Limited Benefit Products Continues as Millions Losing Medicaid Search for New Coverage
- Biden Administration Sets Limits on Use of Short-Term Health Insurance Plans, But States Can Do More to Protect Consumers
CMS has also launched the 2024 Assister Certification Training modules. The training modules will be hosted on the Marketplace Learning Management System for assisters that provide application and enrollment assistance to consumers in Federally Facilitated Marketplaces and state-based Marketplaces. New changes to the training include mobile device support, Enrollment Assistance Personnel certification, and the use of social security numbers in the identification verification process.
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.
Archives of our weekly updates are available on the NDNRC website.