Many American not aware that their Medicaid benefits have ended with the national emergency determination

Millions had Medicaid coverage tied to the pandemic. Now they stand to lose it For months, public health experts have been sounding the alarm over many Medicaid enrollees losing their coverage with the winding down of the COVID-19 public health emergency. But that hasn’… tlejeune The Hill

For months, public health experts have been sounding the alarm over many Medicaid enrollees losing their coverage with the winding down of the COVID-19 public health emergency.

But that hasn’t stopped thousands from being caught off guard now that the emergency is officially over.

Federal legislation passed during the pandemic prohibited states from terminating a Medicaid enrollee’s coverage until the end of the public health emergency, which enabled the federal program to grow and contributed to a record-low national uninsured rate.

These provisions have concluded, however, and it’s become apparent that beneficiaries were not made aware of the change. 

In a Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) poll released this week, two out of three Medicaid enrollees said they were “not sure” if states could remove people from Medicaid for no longer being eligible or not completing the renewal process. Nearly half of the respondents said they had never even been through the renewal process before, which is understandable considering people haven’t had to go through it in three years.

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