Biden Administration Works to Keep People Insured as Millions Lose Medicaid
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has
required a half-dozen states to pause procedural terminations to correct errors
through the Medicaid redetermination process. This information was released
during the agency’s July 19 press call.
The
agency has required a half-dozen states to pause terminations and reinstate individuals
whose Medicaid coverage was terminated without the full due process required.
“We are concerned, in particular, the majority of people that have lost coverage
have lost coverage for what we call procedural reasons,” said Daniel Tsai, CMS
Deputy Administrator and Director of the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services,
during the call. “We are using every lever that Congress has given us to hold
states accountable to following all the federal requirements with Medicaid renewals.”
One of the most common issues the agency has identified is
enrollees not being matched with the correct data to automatically re-enroll them in Medicaid.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, over 3 million Medicaid enrollees have been disenrolled as of
July 20, 2023, based on the most current data from 33 states and the District of Columbia.
CMS has also sent letters
to employers, plan sponsors and insurers encouraging them to voluntarily extend
their plans’ health insurance coverage enrollment period, commonly called “open
season,” through July 31, 2024. This gives employees who are losing Medicaid
ample time to enroll in their group health insurance plans. CMS believes that
“employees may not realize that they lost their Medicaid or CHIP coverage until
they access care, since they may have missed notices from their state agency,
and then missed their opportunity to enroll in other coverage,” which is why
CMS is asking employers to extend their coverage enrollment deadline for the requested period of time.
The letter reminds employers that there are no legal or regulatory
barriers to extending their coverage enrollment deadline and it encourages them
to help inform their employees about the redetermination requirements and the
need for the employees to contact their state Medicaid agency if they are currently covered by Medicaid.
