January 19, 2023

28.9 MILLION HAVE HAD MEDICAID COVERAGE RENEWED

As of January 16, over 15 million Medicaid enrollees have lost coverage, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). 33% of those who completed the renewal process were disenrolled and 28.9 million enrollees were able to qualify for renewed coverage. The large range of disenrollment rates in each state varies, with the highest of 61% being in Texas and the lowest of 13% in Maine and Oregon. Out of all states with available data, 71% of all those disenrolled were due to procedural reasons.

Open enrollment ended this past Tuesday; however, some may qualify for a special enrollment period. Changes in household like marriage, having a baby/adopted a child/placed a child in foster care, divorce/legal separation, death, changes in residence, or loss of health coverage all qualify for a special enrollment period.

A policy watch from KFF reported that nearly all states have approved unwinding waivers, with 49 states using increased ex parte renewals, 44 states updating enrollee contact information, 28 states helping enrollees complete/submit renewal forms, and 19 states helping re-enrollment for those procedural terminated.

KFF also reported on the implications of the recent elimination of the Medicaid prescription drug rebate cap, directly impacted brand drugs. This has caused some drug companies to lower drug prices or discontinue them and instead push lower priced alternatives. In turn, this can affect state and managed care plans in changing their preferred drug lists.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (APRA-H) has launched the Platform Accelerating Rural Access to Distributed & InteGrated Medical care (PARADIGM) program. Data shows that rural residents are more likely to have a disability than their urban counterparts, highlighting the importance of this program for people with disabilities (PWDs).

HHS released the 2024 federal poverty levels, with the annual level for a family of three increasing to $25,820 and for an individual increasing to $15,060, as reported by the Georgetown Center for Children and Families. This will change Medicaid eligibility for many, especially those who lost Medicaid coverage in the last year.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) continues to address maternal and infant health with additional grant funds. Up to 15 state Medicaid agencies will be chosen to receive up to $17 million over 10 years to adopt and implement the Transforming Maternal Health model. The Notice of Funding Opportunity will be released in the spring.

The CHIRblog covered the implications of treating telehealth coverage as an “expected benefit,” highlighting that standalone telehealth products would almost be exempt from regulatory oversight, making way for increased risk for consumers.

The Commonwealth Fund released a blog forecasting legislative and regulatory activity for health care in 2024. Topics include Medicare, prescription drugs, behavioral health, and access to care.

Take part in the National Survey on Health and Disability, an anonymous and confidential survey that focuses on access to health care, insurance coverage, housing, transportation, long COVID, participation in the community, employment and more. Your experiences and opinions matter and are critical to include in this research that aims to inform and call decision-makers to action on issues that you and other people with disabilities care about. The survey can be completed online with a smartphone, tablet, computer or over the telephone with a project staff person. View the press release or outreach video for more information!

Open enrollment has ended but there are still people with disabilities who qualify for a special enrollment period. Navigators who work with people with disabilities who have communication-related needs in the process of applying for health insurance coverage through the Marketplace can review the  NDNRC’s latest factsheet on assisting consumers with communication needs, complete with an accessible PDF version.

There are over 61 million people with a disability in the United States. Across our community, health needs can differ based on a lot of factors. On January 24th at 2:00pm ET, join the American Association on Health and Disability for a conversation about the many intersections that affect disability health. Sign up here to join: https://bit.ly/Jan24-Webinar

Archives of our weekly updates are available on the NDNRC website.