Medicaid

via the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS):

In June 2023, 92,614,205 individuals were enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP.

• 85,614,581 individuals were enrolled in Medicaid in June 2023, a decrease of 1,169,095 individuals (1.3%) from May 2023.

• 6,999,624 individuals were enrolled in CHIP in June 2023, a decrease of 32,449 individuals (0.5%) from May 2023.

• As of June 2023, enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP has decreased by 1,304,004 since March 2023, the final month of the Medicaid continuous enrollment condition under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and amended by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023.
  • Medicaid enrollment has decreased by 1,175,034 individuals (1.4%).
  • CHIP enrollment has decreased by 128,970 individuals (1.8%).

• Between February 2020 and March 2023, enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP increased by 23,043,140 individuals (32.5%) to 93,918,209
  • Medicaid enrollment increased by 22,709,822 individuals (35.4%).
  • CHIP enrollment increased by 333,318 individuals (4.9%).

Last month, Amy Lotven of Inside Health Policy found an excellent scoop from a new CMS report hiding in plain sight:

New CMS data, quietly released in late August, show about 178,000 consumers chose a qualified health plan (QHP) through a state or federal exchanges after losing Medicaid and CHIP coverage in the first two months of the Medicaid unwinding. Those sign-ups through the end of May are more than three times the 54,000 enrollments that CMS reported in July, which reflected only the April numbers.

Shout-out to Jody Young for bringing this Florida Politics article by Christine Sexton my way this evening:

A ‘Nixon goes to China’ moment? Conservative Republican pushes for state Medicaid expansion.

• 'These are not handouts. We’re not throwing money down the drain. We are helping our working class Americans get ahead.'

A conservative Florida Republican doctor who has been an ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis and his handling of COVID-19 says it’s time for the state to expand Medicaid despite the long-running opposition of GOP legislators.

...[Rep. Joel] Rudman said the loss of Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands of Floridians this year illustrates the need for change. A spreadsheet compiled by House Democrats shows of the 524,076 Floridians who have lost coverage in the last four months, nearly 50% are under the age of 21.

via the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS):

HHS Takes Action to Provide 12 Months of Mandatory Continuous Coverage for Children in Medicaid and CHIP

Wyoming just became the latest state to have Medicaid coverage extended from 2 months to a full year for new mothers:

CMS approved a postpartum coverage extension state plan amendment (SPA) for Wyoming to extend postpartum coverage for a full year for individuals enrolled in Medicaid. The opportunity to extend postpartum coverage was made possible under the American Rescue Plan and made permanent in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023. Wyoming’s approval marks 37 states, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands that have extended postpartum Medicaid coverage to a full year. This approval supports the CMS Maternity Care Action Planand Biden-Harris Maternal Health Blueprint.

As noted last month:

Mississippi is one of the ten states where ACA Medicaid expansion still hasn't gone through a full decade after it could have.

A few years ago, Medicaid expansion in Mississippi looked like it might actually happen: While GOP Governor Tate Reeves and the Republican supermajority-controlled state legislature opposed it, in May 2021 there was a strong grassroots effort to put a statewide initiative on the ballot to push it through regardless, exactly how it happened in other deep red states like Utah, Nebraska, Idaho and South Dakota.

Unfortunately, just a few weeks later, the Mississippi Supreme Court crushed that effort:

Back in March, after years of failed and stalled attempts to get it passed, the North Carolina legislature finally pushed ACA Medicaid expansion over the line to be signed into law by Democratic Governor Roy Cooper.

As for when the program would actually go into effect, however...that's been something of a mystery for awhile now. Apparently the wording of the legislation ties it in with it being included in the general state budget, which wouldn't be voted on or approved for months. As a result, no one seemed to be sure when the healthcare expansion program for up to ~600,000 North Carolina residents will actually launch.

Back in July, the Health & Human Services Dept. took an optimistic stance, preparing for the possibility of the program kicking off starting on October 1st of this year. Unfortunately, that was based on the assumption that the GOP-controlled state legislature would actually pass the general budget required for it to happen by September 1st...which didn't happen.

Three weeks ago, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that they were cracking down on one of the main reasons why so many people are being kicked off of Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) even though they were still eligible: 

CMS believes that eligibility systems in a number of states are programmed incorrectly and are conducting automatic renewals at the family-level and not the individual-level, even though individuals in a family may have different eligibility requirements to qualify for Medicaid and CHIP. For example, children often have higher eligibility thresholds than their parents, making them more likely to be eligible for Medicaid or CHIP coverage even if their parents no longer qualify. This conflicts with existing federal Medicaid requirements and may have a disproportionate impact on children.

Yesterday I noted that Idaho, which was the one of the first states to start "redetermining" Medicaid/CHIP enrollees the moment the Medicaid Unwinding process began last spring, has at least completed doing so; in the end, over 121,000 - 145,000 Idahoans got the boot, of which somewhere between 51,000 - 106,000 may still actually be eligible for Medicaid/CHIP coverage due to having their coverage terminated for purely procedural reasons.

Today, there's a consolation prize of sorts; via Your Health idaho:

Special Enrollment Period for the Loss of Medicaid Extended

Idahoans who have lost Medicaid coverage have until Nov 30, 2023, to enroll in health insurance through Your Health Idaho

via Dorothy Mills-Gregg of Inside Health Policy:

While most states are reaching the height of their post-pandemic Medicaid renewals, Idaho is returning to nearly normal redeterminations, closing out the bulk of its pandemic eligibility unwinding after removing more than 121,000 Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries the state deemed most likely ineligible from the programs in six months.

Hmmm...IHP's estimate is lower than that of KFF's daily tracker, which puts Idaho's total disenrollment number at 145,000 as of today.

Idaho’s Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program enrollment grew by roughly 150,000 people during the pandemic’s continuous coverage requirement, maxing out at about 450,000 beneficiaries. An estimated 42% of the beneficiaries who were disenrolled lost coverage due to procedural or paperwork issues.