Why millions of people could lose Medicaid next month
Health officials are bracing for chaos as states begin to determine — for the first time in three years — who is eligible for Medicaid, as a key pandemic policy of guaranteed eligibility ends.
Advocates warn that without a safety net, millions of vulnerable people will fall through the cracks and lose coverage.
The Biden administration is giving states a year to go through the once-routine process of sorting through Medicaid rolls, though some are moving much faster.
Arkansas for instance will speed through the redetermination process in only six months, citing cost concerns and the goal of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) to push people to “escape the trap of government dependency.”
Eight states began the renewal process in February, and have already started sending out renewal notices. But unlike Arkansas, those states won’t begin terminating people from the program until May or June. According to a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation, most states will take at least a year.
“I think any state will tell you there’s going to be chaos,” said Katherine Hempstead, a senior policy adviser at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “It’s going to be unfortunately like a learning experience, but it’s going to be a very, very painful experience for people that lose coverage.”
The Biden administration estimates as many as 15 million people could be at risk of losing Medicaid, though many of those people will be able to transition to employer-sponsored coverage or get insurance through a subsidized Affordable Care Act plan.
The Department of Health and Human Services estimated nearly 7 million people will lose coverage because of administrative barriers like lost or incomplete paperwork.
Medicare/medicaid and Social Security are paid by employers.I know I and my employees have paid thousands to all three for decades now. The govt. should stay out of those funds! No reason for them to be raiding them.
Somewhere along the line we not longer need to work to eat. This never works out well