Over 1M said to have lost Medicaid since COVID protections lapsed
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More than one million Americans have lost Medicaid insurance through mid-June since the COVID-era protections for continuous enrollments expired in March, according to data compiled by the health policy think tank Kaiser Family Foundation on Monday.
The continuous enrollment provision required Medicaid programs to pause eligibility reviews and continue membership enrollment during the pandemic.
According to data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicaid memberships grew ~34% from Feb. 2020 to Dec. 2022 when the requirement was in effect.
Medicaid programs, jointly funded by the states and the federal government, resumed eligibility reviews in April when the continuous enrollment provision lapsed on Mar. 31.
Using updated data from 20 states, KFF said that at least 1.0M Medicaid members lost insurance as of June 12 as the states began to unwind the continuous enrollment provision.
That figure is likely an undercount as public data for disenrollments are only available for some states, the non-profit added.
According to the Health and Human Services Department (HHS), as many as 15M Americans are expected to drop out of Medicaid as redeterminations continue during the 12-month unwinding period.
However, many can claim insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace or from an employer.
Leading players in the Medicaid market include: Centene (NYSE:CNC), UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH), Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) and Molina Healthcare (NYSE:MOH).