It’s been one year since the federal Covid-19 public emergency ended and a massive ‘Medicaid unwinding’ began. During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic states were barred by Congress from disenrolling Medicaid recipients from their rolls, but that came to an end last year.

As a result, more than 20 million people lost their Medicaid coverage in the last year. About 1 in 5 people with Medicaid have been disenrolled, and nearly 1 out of 4 adults who were disenrolled are still uninsured today.¹

These numbers reported by KFF are likely even higher, but the statistics, “are not well tracked by states and the federal government.”²

Without insurance coverage, many disenrolled people have been forced to skip or delay their medications and doctor appointments, according to a KFF survey. Of those who gained alternative health insurance plans, higher out-of-pocket costs are a major concern to them, with a majority of previously enrolled insured adults saying their new plans are worse.³

Of those surveyed, almost 30% say they don’t remember receiving any type of communication about how to renew their Medicaid coverage, and about a third of Medicaid enrollees found the renewal process difficult.⁴

It should not be this hard for people to get the care they need and deserve.

Now, millions of people are uninsured while others struggle to afford higher costs through their new, worse health insurance plans. This is a clear example of our unnecessarily complicated health care system having a direct impact on whether patients can get the care they need. The best way to fix it is through Medicare for All.

Will you add your name to build pressure for Medicare for All, a federal single-payer health care system that would guarantee care for everyone regardless of their ability to pay?

Add Your Name »

By overhauling our country’s broken health care system through Medicare for All, we can prevent disenrollments like this in the future and ensure that every person in this country has the coverage to get the care they need.

In solidarity,

Nurses’ Campaign to Win Medicare for All

 

Sources:

1. “20 million people lost their Medicaid coverage in the last year. Here’s what happened to them,” CNN, April 12, 2024.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/12/politics/medicaid-coverage-health-insurance/index.html

2. Ibid.

3. “KFF Survey of Medicaid Unwinding,” KFF, April 12, 2024.
https://www.kff.org/medicaid/poll-finding/kff-survey-of-medicaid-unwinding/

4. Ibid.