Over One Million Individuals No Longer Covered by Medicaid

In the past few months, over 1 million individuals have been removed from Medicaid due to some states abruptly ending health care coverage after the conclusion of the coronavirus pandemic. The majority of these removals were a result of individuals not completing the required paperwork. While the federal government mandates eligibility reviews, the Biden administration is concerned about the speed at which certain states are executing this task, as it may result in eligible individuals, including children and families, losing coverage temporarily. Daniel Tsai, a top federal Medicaid official, recently expressed this concern to reporters.

According to publicly available reports and data obtained by the AP, more than 1.5 million people in over two dozen states have already been removed from Medicaid since the review process began in April or May. Florida has had the highest number of removals, dropping several hundred thousand individuals. Other states with particularly high drop rates include Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia, where half or more of the cases decided in May resulted in removal from Medicaid. Arkansas alone has removed over 140,000 people from the program.

Nationwide, the most recent available data in February showed that over 93 million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid, a nearly one-third increase from January 2020. This surge in enrollment occurred due to federal law prohibiting states from removing individuals from Medicaid during the health emergency in exchange for increased funding. Now that eligibility reviews have resumed, states are working through a backlog of cases to determine if there have been changes in income or life circumstances among beneficiaries. States have one year to complete this process. However, it has proven challenging to track down responses from everyone, as some individuals have moved, changed contact information, or ignored mailings regarding the renewal process.

Advocates are concerned that many households losing coverage may include eligible children, as Medicaid covers children at higher income levels than their parents or guardians. A report from the US Department of Health and Human Services last year predicted that children would be disproportionately impacted, with more than half of those disenrolled still being eligible for Medicaid.

(Read more Medicaid stories.)