A Covid-19 pandemic-era ban on states ending residents’ Medicaid coverage expired on April 1. Since then, more than 3 million enrollees have been disenrolled, according to state and federal data compiled by KFF. The majority of those terminations have been for so-called procedural reasons, meaning that enrollees did not complete the renewal process – possibly because they didn’t receive the forms or didn’t understand the instructions, among other reasons. Nearly three-quarters of disenrollments fell into this category, though the rate varied widely by state. The agency is closely monitoring states’ progress and compliance with federal requirements, as laid out in Congress’ fiscal 2023 federal spending package. States have until the end of May 2024 to complete their eligibility reviews, though a number plan to finish the process much faster, though some plan to complete it much faster. The most effective stick that CMS has to get states to comply is the risk of losing their federal Medicaid matching funds if they don’t follow all the federal requirements. If they ever fail to comply in the future, the agency “won’t hesitate to make that information public,” said CMS administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “We are very concerned about the level of terminations, meaning disenrollment, that we are seeing across the country,” Daniel Tsai, director of the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, told reporters on Wednesday. “What those states understand is if they do not do that, their entire enhanced federal match for the quarter that’s been outlined by statute is at risk, and that’s a significant amount of funding,” he said. The length of the pauses varies by state and depends on the speed at which it can remedy its problem, said Tsai. Some states are taking an extra 90 days to correct their systems, he said, noting that some states aretaking an extra 100 days to fix the problem. The Agency is not naming any of the states since they are working collaboratively with CMS to address the issues. It is also in preliminary discussions with multiple other states to make sure they are not in violation of the federal rules, Tsai said. Enrollment in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, has soared to nearly 94 million people during the roughly three years that states could not winnow their rolls. Estimates of how many people will lose their coverage during the redetermination process vary. KFF pegs it at 17 million, while a Department of Health and Human Services analysis from last summer projected a reduction of 15 million enrollee. A number of states have taken advantage of a new CMS option to delay procedural terminations for at least a month to conduct additional outreach to conduct more outreach to those who may be eligible for Medicaid. A total of 17 million people are expected to lose their Medicaid coverage during this period. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is working with states to address issues related to full compliance with renewal requirements for some or all of their enrollees.
Medicaid disenrollments paused in a dozen states after failure to comply with federal rules. Medicaid disenrollment paused in 12 states after Failure to Comply with Federal Rules.
