{"id":66882,"date":"2024-08-23T11:24:12","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T18:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=66882"},"modified":"2024-08-23T11:24:12","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T18:24:12","slug":"americans-face-historic-medicaid-coverage-gaps-disenrollments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=66882","title":{"rendered":"Americans Face Historic Medicaid Coverage Gaps, Disenrollments"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_59 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_59\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span><a class=\"tdb-author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/author\/selen-ozturk\/\">Selen Ozturk<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_60 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_60\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><i class=\"tdb-date-icon tdc-font-fa tdc-font-fa-calendar\"><\/i><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2024-08-12T09:44:26-07:00\">Aug 12, 2024<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_subtitle tdi_61 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_61\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>Of the 83 million Americans enrolled in Medicaid, nearly half being children, about 23 million have lost coverage since the pandemic, or stand to lose it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_62 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_62\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"entry-thumb\" title=\"health\" src=\"https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/health.png\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2398px) 100vw, 2398px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/health.png 2398w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/health-300x162.png 300w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/health-1024x553.png 1024w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/health-768x415.png 768w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/health-1536x830.png 1536w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/health-2048x1107.png 2048w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/health-150x81.png 150w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/health-696x376.png 696w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/health-1068x577.png 1068w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/health-1920x1038.png 1920w\" alt=\"\" width=\"2398\" height=\"1296\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_63 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_63\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>Of the 83 million Americans enrolled in Medicaid, nearly half being children, about 23 million have lost coverage since the pandemic, or stand to lose it.<\/p>\n<p>The federal COVID-19 emergency froze the process of annual Medicaid eligibility checks known as redetermination. Since the emergency was lifted in May 2023, redetermination has begun again for the nearly one in four Americans and nearly half of all children in the country who are on Medicaid \u2014 worsening historic coverage gaps in many states.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Redetermination and coverage gaps<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cBecause of the bureaucratic hoops that people need to jump through, the past year has been like a disenrollment churn on steroids, even for many who are still eligible,\u201d said Katherine Hampstead, senior policy advisor at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, at a Friday, August 9 Ethnic Media Services briefing on Medicaid coverage gaps.<\/p>\n<p>69% of these disenrollments owe to paperwork issues rather than ineligibility, and nearly a quarter of the 20 million people dropped from Medicaid since the redetermination began are still uninsured as of April 2024.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td-video-replacer\" data-id=\"undefined\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"ONwkOiRDNms\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"widget2\" title=\"As Cancer Rises in Their Demographic, Young Adults Remain the Largest Uninsured Group in the U.S.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ONwkOiRDNms?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" width=\"100%\" height=\"392\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Martha Sanchez, Health Policy and Advocacy Director at Young Invincibles, discusses statistics on health insurance and healthcare needs for young adults 18-34 years old.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cMedicaid is the largest single source of health insurance in the country, but there\u2019s both federal and state money going into it \u2026 so it\u2019s like 50 different programs state to state,\u201d explained Hampstead, adding that redetermination is particularly worsening coverage gaps for the populations Medicaid was originally designed for, like low-income groups, seniors, people with disabilities, children and pregnant women.<\/p>\n<p>Coverage gaps also disproportionately affect communities of color \u2014\u00a0 especially in the 10 states, mostly in the South, which have not expanded Medicaid income limits from 100% to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) for adults aged 19 to 64.<\/p>\n<p>This FPL expansion is permitted by the Affordable Care Act, and was ruled by the Supreme Court in 2012 to be optional for each state.<\/p>\n<p>As of 2024, the FPL is $14,580 for an individual, 138% percent of that being $20,783; or $24,860 for a family of three, 138% of that being $35,632.<\/p>\n<p>In states which haven\u2019t expanded FPL limits \u2014 like Florida, Texas, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi \u2014 \u201cthere\u2019s a coverage gap where two to three million people, predominantly populations of color, are in a very unfortunate situation where they\u2019re \u2018too poor\u2019 to get marketplace subsidized coverage, yet they don\u2019t qualify for Medicaid because their state\u2019s eligibility limit is so low,\u201d said Hampstead.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Youth coverage<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cDespite our name, young people are not invincible,\u201d said Martha Sanchez, health policy and advocacy director at youth advocacy nonprofit\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/younginvincibles.org\/\">Young Invincibles<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re the future of our U.S. workforce and economy, and we cannot afford to continue to regress in our health.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>About\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cms.gov\/CCIIO\/Resources\/Files\/adult_child_fact_sheet\">30%<\/a>\u00a0of U.S. young adults aged 18 to 34 are uninsured,\u00a0 higher than any other age group and comprising over one in five of all uninsured Americans.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td-video-replacer\" data-id=\"undefined\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"1f4mzump7XE\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"widget4\" title=\"\u2018Children Are Not Expensive to Our Healthcare System but They Need Regular Care\u2019\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1f4mzump7XE?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" width=\"100%\" height=\"392\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Joan Alker, Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Center for Children and Families and Research Professor at Georgetown University, explains the challenges that uninsured families face as they manage healthcare for their children.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Meanwhile, a 2019 CDC study shows that at least half of young adults have at least one chronic condition like diabetes, cancer or mental health issues.<\/p>\n<p>Since the pandemic these conditions have only been rising, with one third of all young adults \u2014 and half of those aged 18 to 24 \u2014 reporting symptoms of mental illness.<\/p>\n<p>The American Cancer Society also reports increasing rates of cancer among young adults; particularly types associated with older adults, like colon cancer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re in a crisis where our health care systems are not meeting the needs of our young people, who are often in a stage of transition out of Medicaid \u2026 because there\u2019s no expansion, they\u2019re sold student health plans or they don\u2019t know how to enroll in other plans,\u201d said Sanchez.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI grew up on Medicaid, and I never understood all of the benefits I had until I transitioned out as a college student,\u201d she explained. \u201cI had annual checkups, vaccinations and dental care, but I had no idea about the mental health benefits. And we\u2019ve heard this from other young adults who shared that they would have taken advantage of mental health resources, but had no idea it was covered \u2026 We need not only Medicaid expansion but health literacy, so people can actually use their coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since redetermination, 5.5 fewer children below 18 are enrolled in Medicaid as of July 2024.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany of these children remain eligible, and we need to get them back enrolled, particularly in back to school right now,\u201d said Joan Alker, executive director and co-founder of the<a href=\"https:\/\/ccy.jfcs.org\/\">\u00a0Center for Children and Families<\/a>\u00a0and research professor at Georgetown University.<\/p>\n<p>Net Medicaid enrollment changes vary drastically between states, with the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ccf.georgetown.edu\/subtopic\/unwinding-phe\/\">largest<\/a>\u00a0drops by number being 1.3 million fewer children in Texas, approximately 542,600 fewer children in Florida and 373,000 fewer children in California.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td-video-replacer\" data-id=\"undefined\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"NwqQt25wGXk\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"widget6\" title=\"States that Invest the Least in Healthcare Have the Highest Numbers of Uninsured People\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NwqQt25wGXk?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" width=\"100%\" height=\"392\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Stan Dorn, Director of the Health Policy Project at UnidosUS, discusses the bureaucratic issues and lack of investment that keep healthcare out of reach for so many Americans.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The largest drops by percentage are Utah, with 34.5% fewer children on Medicaid; Colorado, with 30.9% fewer children; and Texas, with 29.1% fewer children.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve heard that parents are putting off care because they\u2019re not insured, and just hoping their child doesn\u2019t get sick. That children are having to skip their medications, not getting their inhalers and missing treatments for behavioral health conditions,\u201d said Alker.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChildren are not expensive to our health care system, but they need regular care, so even a short gap exposes the family to large medical bills \u2026 and without that routine care, children are less able to learn,\u201d she added. \u201cMany of these children are still eligible for Medicaid. Any gap in coverage is not acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe price America pays for giving states enormous authority over their Medicaid programs is extremely high,\u201d said Stan Dorn, director of the Health Policy Project at<a href=\"https:\/\/unidosus.org\/\">\u00a0UnidosUS<\/a>. \u201cA family has a very different likelihood of getting health care based simply on the state in which they happen to live.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To bridge these dramatic coverage gaps across states, Dorn suggested making \u201cadministrative burdens completely irrelevant for as many people as possible\u201d through paperless eligibility; linguistically and culturally accessible enrollment help; automatic renewal of qualified people using tax and wage information that the government already has; and providing continuous coverage in the case of missing paperwork.<\/p>\n<p>As states pay a percentage of the cost of each Medicaid enrollee, Dorn also suggested creating federal standards for state redetermination performance to incentivize states that don\u2019t want to pay.<\/p>\n<p>States that exceed standards would get a bonus, as was done with the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program in 2009. For states that don\u2019t meet standards, he suggested deferring federal payments until the state improved, while stopping families from being terminated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe found that the states with the worst problems in terms of people losing coverage had invested the least amount of money in their eligibility infrastructure. So ultimately, it\u2019s a question of values,\u201d said Dorn. \u201cAre the states\u2019 officials willing to invest enough money in running a Medicaid program that they would trust with their own family\u2019s health care? Some are willing to invest in systems that work for families and providers, and others are not.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BySelen Ozturk Aug 12, 2024 Of&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,9,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-opinion","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66882"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66883,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66882\/revisions\/66883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}