WASHINGTON (TND) — Across the country, thousands of Medicaid recipients have lost healthcare coverage and projections are that millions more may also soon be affected.
Providing health care coverage to more than 86 million Americans, Medicaid coverage is particularly important to eligible low-income adults, children, pregnant women, seniors, and people with disabilities.
A proactive measure that came about during the COVID-19 pandemic saw the federal government increasing funding for states to ensure that all who were covered in that moment by Medicaid could stay on it. Now, as the government scales back that funding, states are going back to their regular Medicaid eligibility processes triggering a return to redeterminations of eligibility for those currently enrolled. This will, in turn, result in disenrollment of those who are no longer eligible or who are still eligible but are unable to complete the renewal process, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
According to the foundation’s projections, 17 million people could lose Medicaid coverage within the next year and, as of June 12, 2023, over one million have already been disenrolled.
–with files from upnorthlive.com
