In some states, about some of those whose Medicaid renewal was in April or May have lost coverage, according to information referred to the Centers for Medicare.
KENTUCKY GOVERNMENT BESHEAR SAYS EXPANDED COVID MEDICAID COVERAGE WILL END SOON
“I am deeply concerned about the number of other people who needlessly lose their policy, especially those who appear to have lost their policy for life-saving reasons that state Medicaid offices have the authority to save or mitigate it,” the Secretary of Health and Human Services said. Xavier Becerra wrote in a letter. Monday to the governors.
Instead of delaying others who didn’t respond in time, the federal government is encouraging state Medicaid agencies to delay procedural terminations for a month while achieving greater outreach targeting Medicaid recipients. Among other things, they also inspire states to allow Controlled Health Care Plan providers to help others submit Medicaid renewal forms.
No one “should lose their policy just because they replaced their address, didn’t get a form or didn’t have enough data about the renewal process,” Becerra said in a statement.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra speaks April 12, 2023, in Washington. Becerra said he’s very concerned about the number of other people who waste their Medicaid coverage. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Dossier)
States are moving at other rates toward Medicaid eligibility. Some have yet to get rid of anyone from their lists, while others have already gotten rid of tens of thousands of people.
Of the 18 states that reported initial knowledge to CMS, about 45% of those that expired in April retained their Medicaid coverage, about 31% lost coverage, and about 24% were still in treatment. Of those who lost coverage, four out of five were for procedural reasons, according to the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. U. S.
In Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, New Hampshire and Oklahoma, about a portion or more of those who finished their eligibility processes in April or May lost their Medicaid coverage, according to data reviewed by the AP. They have accelerated the process, starting with those already deemed unlikely to remain eligible.
70% INELIGIBLE AS NEW HAMPSHIRE BEGINS ATMEDICAID ENROLLMENT PURGE
CMS officials in particular highlighted considerations about Arkansas, which lost more than 100,000 Medicaid recipients, most commonly for not going back on the renewal bureaucracy or requesting information.
Arkansas officials said they are following a timeline under a 2021 law that requires the state to complete its new determinations within six months of the end of the public fitness emergency. They said Medicaid recipients receive multiple notifications, as well as text messages, emails and phone calls, when imaginable, before being abandoned. Some other people probably won’t respond because they know they’re no longer eligible, the state Department of Social Services said.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders downplayed complaints about the state’s redetermination process, saying Arkansas is simply returning the program to its pre-pandemic policy intentions.
But health care advocates said it’s especially troubling when states have large numbers of other people removed from Medicaid for failing to respond to reenrollment notices.
“People who aren’t enrolled for procedures won’t realize they’ve lost their policy until they show up for a doctor’s appointment or stop by to fill their prescription and are told they no longer have an insurance policy,” said lead researcher Allie Gardner, associated with Georgetown University. Center for Children and Families.