WASHINGTON – Some 15 million people in the United States who obtained health insurance during the covid-19 pandemic will lose it starting tomorrow, Saturday, the protection of Medicaid, the health subsidy program for low-income people.
Medicaid provides these subsidies to some 84 million people and during the covid-19 emergency, the Government suspended the procedures to remove beneficiaries from its lists.
Before the crisis, those who received Medicaid subsidies had to renew their participation each year, and could lose them if their income improved to the point where they no longer qualified for the program, or if they moved from one state to another, or if they obtained insurance doctor through your employer.
When the pandemic spread in the spring of 2020, the government suspended this purge of the beneficiary lists and as a consequence, until 2022, the contingent of Medicaid beneficiaries grew by some five million people.
Three years ago, Congress passed a measure to prevent states from removing beneficiaries from Medicaid rolls, but that protection expires today, March 31.
With the pandemic over, last December President Joe Biden enacted a law that includes an instruction for states to resume control of the qualification of each Medicaid client.
To continue receiving benefits from this program, participants must complete forms that verify their personal information, including address, income, and number of people in the household.
This review of the lists of eligible beneficiaries to receive Medicaid subsidies will not happen suddenly, and states can initiate notifications to beneficiaries telling them when their re-enrollment date is.
Idaho, Arizona, South Dakota, Arkansas, and New Hampshire are expected to begin mailing out those notifications in April, followed by Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Arkansas in May.
States have until May 2024 to verify Medicaid eligibility for most people enrolled in the program, including more than 34 million children.
A recent report from the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University warned that African-American and Latino children are at higher risk of losing coverage improperly.
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