News: One in five Medicaid enrollees disenrolled since March 2023
More than 20 million people have been disenrolled from Medicaid, according to a recent study cited by the American Hospital Association (AHA).
According to the AHA, the remarkable drop in enrollees is due to the expiration of a provision in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which “requir[ed] state Medicaid programs to keep people enrolled, in change for additional federal funding.” This continuous enrollment provision ended on March 31, 2023, and stipulated that states could disenroll people who
- No longer met the eligibility requirements
- Did not complete the renewal process beginning on April 1, 2023
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), this process of “Medicaid unwinding” has had a seriously detrimental effect on the overall physical and mental health of dis-enrollees. Here are some highlights from the KFF study:
- 75% of Medicaid dis-enrollees say they were worried about their physical health, while 60% they were worried about their mental health
- 56% of Medicaid dis-enrollees “skipped or delayed” getting health services or prescriptions while attempting to renew their coverage
- 36% of uninsured Medicaid dis-enrollees say they are still trying to get Medicaid coverage with 54% of those citing costs as the reason why they haven’t gotten private coverage
- Of those who were able to receive private coverage after being disenrolled (8%), 50% now worry about affording their monthly premium, and 76% are worried about affording the cost of healthcare services
Editor’s note: To read the AHA summary, click here. To read the KFF study, click here.