About 7,000 Michiganians tossed off Medicaid so far, state says

Nearly 7,000 Michigan residents have been disqualified so far from receiving government health care coverage under the Medicaid program for mostly low-income residents, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said in a Monday release.

Individuals had been automatically renewed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but that ended a few months ago as state officials urged beneficiaries to be vigilant and sign up for the renewal of health care benefits. The state department announced an online dashboard, which shows the number of approved, pre-approved, ineligible residents, along with closed accounts and how many are still not completed, among other information.

More than 3 million Michigan residents, including 1 million Healthy Michigan Plan enrollees, benefited from keeping their Medicaid coverage without annual renewals during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the state health and welfare department.

On July 6, the state had determined 6,935 people no longer were eligible for Medicaid for reasons that ranged from an increase in income to those whose cases were closed for administrative reasons, including lack of proof of updated income or exceeding the asset limit for eligibility, state officials said. This appeared to apply to applicants whose renewal was slated for June.

The state verified eligibility for health care coverage for 103,540 people, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

The state delayed disqualifying anyone from coverage for not returning the paperwork until the end of July.

“While we’re happy that many Michiganders have maintained coverage, we want to emphasize how important it is for people who receive reenrollment packets to fill out their information and return it promptly," said Meghan Groen, the state department's Medicaid director and senior deputy director for the Behavioral and Physical Health and Aging Services Administration.

As of July 6, the state was waiting for completed enrollment forms from over 100,000 people.

Federal law requires the state to redetermine the eligibility of enrollees through May 2024. The dashboard shows current data for June online and will update monthly.

“We want to be sure that as many Michiganders as possible can continue to receive Medicaid coverage so that they can keep their families healthy or help people sign up for an affordable new plan. This new dashboard allows the public to view our progress as we renew Medicaid coverage for families who remain eligible," Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel said in a statement.

Michigan uses a 90-day renewal timeline so the process starts two months before an enrollee's renewal date. MDHHS began the first renewal process in April for beneficiaries with a June renewal date. A timeline of the renewal process can be found online.

State department spokesman Bob Wheaton said it is unclear how many Michigan residents will remain eligible after the renewal process, but one estimate calculated up to 200,000 individuals could be tossed off Medicaid's rolls.

"It’s really too soon for us to predict that," Wheaton said Monday. "We are doing all we can to reach people to let them know they need to return their paperwork so that we can preserve affordable health care coverage for as many Michiganders as possible."

slewis@detroitnews.com