1.5M Americans dropped from Medicaid after pandemic spike

After soaring during the COVID-19 pandemic, about 1.5 million Americans have been dropped from Medicaid in April and May. That number could balloon in the coming months.

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States, which were barred from removing people during the pandemic, are required to review their Medicaid rolls now that the health emergency has ended. More than 93 million people were enrolled as of February. That number is up nearly a third from January 2020.

Some states have gotten right to trimming their rolls. States that have dropped around half or more of their Medicaid recipients who had renewal cases up for review in May include:

• Florida.
• Arkansas.
• Idaho.
• Kansas.
• Nevada.
• New Hampshire.
• Oklahoma.
• South Dakota.
• Utah.
• West Virginia.

Florida has dropped several hundred thousand people, by far the most of an individual state. Arkansas, meanwhile, has dropped more than 140,000 people. Most got dropped for not filling out the paperwork.

Some states have been so efficient in cleaning out their rolls, the Biden administration has warned them to slow down. Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra wrote a letter to governors expressing concern that large numbers of otherwise-eligible, lower-income Americans were losing Medicaid coverage after the pandemic due to administrative reasons.

“Nobody who is eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) should lose coverage simply because they changed addresses, didn’t receive a form, or didn’t have enough information about the renewal process,” Becerra said in a statement. “We encourage states to utilize all available flexibilities to ensure children and families don’t lose coverage. We also urge states to join us in partnering with local governments, community organizations, and schools to reach people eligible for Medicaid and CHIP where they are.”