Medicaid will eliminate health coverage for 14 MILLION Americans
>
Medicaid will eliminate health coverage for 14 MILLION Americans as states crack down on eligibility for the first time in three years, so are you at risk?
- Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Medicaid rolls have not been cleared in any state
- Over the next 12-month period, each state will ask its Medicaid residents to re-enroll in the program to see if they still qualify.
- Those who don’t will likely be redirected to the Affordable Care Act marketplace to choose different health insurance.
Millions of Americans will lose their Medicaid coverage in the coming months as the government begins to verify the eligibility of people currently insured by the government-sponsored program.
Approximately 84 million people are currently covered by the program, a number that is approximately 20 million higher than in January 2020, just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, states will soon begin checking the eligibility of everyone on the Medicaid list for the first time in several years, and up to 14 million people could lose their coverage later.
At the start of the pandemic, the federal government prohibited states from taking people out of the Medicaid system, even if they were not eligible for coverage.
Before COVID, people often lost their Medicaid coverage if they started making too much money to qualify for the program, or if they were able to get new health care through their employers.
Patients who are kicked out of Medicaid will likely have to turn to the Affordable Care Act marketplace for coverage options.
It’s been three years since any state was allowed or instructed to clean up its scrolls.
People were also regularly kicked off a given state’s Medicaid rolls if they moved to a new state.
But none of these rules have been in place for the past three years due to the pandemic, so now states are trying to catch up.
Over the next year, each state will need to start reverifying the eligibility of every person who has Medicaid.
People will be required to fill out forms to verify their personal information, including income, address, and household size.
While some states like Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, and West Virginia will start cutting Medicaid ineligible people in early April, others will start doing so in May, June, and July.
Not everyone who has become ineligible will be removed all at once. The states plan to verify the importance of the recipient over a period of nine to twelve months.
States will mail renewal forms to people’s homes. The federal government also requires states to contact individuals in another way, whether by phone, text or email, to offer a reminder to complete the form.
Individuals will be given 30 days to complete the form or the state may remove the individual from Medicaid.
Some of those kicked out of Medicaid will be able to buy coverage on the Affordable Care Act marketplace, where some options are as low as $10 a month.
Coverage, of course, will be different and may require a change in doctors, as well as higher copays and out-of-pocket costs.
Some states like Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, and West Virginia will start phasing out Medicaid ineligible people in early April.
A special enrollment period for people who have been dropped from Medicaid will begin at the end of March and will last 60 days after the person loses coverage.
A special enrollment period for people who have been dropped from Medicaid will begin at the end of March and will last 60 days after the person loses coverage.
Although many adults will no longer be eligible for Medicaid, most children will still be eligible for some form of government coverage, either Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Up to 90 percent of American children will continue to be eligible for those programs, according to estimates by the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University’s Institute for Health Policy.