Unwinding Continuous Coverage
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Most States Show Improvement in Automated (Ex Parte) Medicaid Renewal Rates
Although ex parte was hardly a household term before the unwinding of the Medicaid continuous enrollment requirement, most stakeholders and observers are now aware of the critical role automating renewals using data available to the state can play in reducing churn and promoting continuity of coverage in Medicaid and CHIP. The policy not only removes…
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How many people are applying or reapplying for Medicaid?
Medicaid and CHIP Monthly Application Volume The charts below show trends in each state’s monthly application volume during the unwinding. This analysis is based on monthly application data reported to CMS by state Medicaid and CHIP agencies. Application volume captures the number of applications submitted and is not a count of individuals seeking coverage. It…
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As Extra Medicaid Funding Phases Out at Year’s End, States Must Still Report Data and Comply with Federal Renewal Requirements
Starting in 2024, states will no longer receive extra federal funding associated with the Medicaid continuous enrollment requirement that was in place from March 2020 through March 2023. But the recent Interim Final Rule with Comment (IFC) released by CMS reminds states that they must continue to meet data reporting requirements specified by Congress and…
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Three Million Fewer Children in the U.S. are Covered by Medicaid: CHIP Enrollment Isn’t Growing Much
As readers of Say Ahh! know, we’ve been closely tracking data from around the country related to the lifting of the COVID-19 pandemic related continuous coverage protections in Medicaid. The tracker is going up very quickly now– we hit one million on Halloween, two million on Thanksgiving and today three million fewer children are enrolled…
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States with Low Medicaid Participation Rates Saw the Greatest Child Coverage Gains During the Period of Pandemic Continuous Coverage Protections
By: Juliana St Goar & Joan Alker It is well documented that over the past three years, Medicaid enrollment grew while a continuous coverage requirement was in place. Though some of this growth can be attributed to Medicaid’s crucial role as a safety net program during times of economic hardship, federal law also played a…
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CMS Releases New Unwinding-Related Renewal Resources for Health Care Settings
CMS recently released a toolkit for clinical offices and health care settings with patient-centered messaging regarding the unwinding of the Medicaid continuous enrollment requirement. The toolkit includes helpful information on how health care providers can share information on Medicaid and CHIP renewals with patients. The toolkit starts with suggestions on what various staff members within…
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Florida’s Rolling Out a New Medicaid/SNAP Portal Next Week – Throwing Gas on the Unwinding Fire
With little advance notice to the community, the state of Florida announced in mid-November that it was moving next week (December 5th) to a new portal for eligibility for Medicaid, SNAP, child care and TANF; and that every person/household in the state accessing those benefits will need to create a new account. Every person create…
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CCF’s Unwinding and Enrollment Trackers Explained
Since Medicaid unwinding of the continuous coverage requirement has begun, net child Medicaid enrollment has fallen by more than two million and overall net Medicaid enrollment has declined by more than five million. We have received some questions about how we calculate these net enrollment figures as well as the basis of other unwinding data…
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Marketplace Enrollment Rises Again in July But Still Represents Only Small Share of Those Losing Medicaid Coverage During Unwinding
As readers of Say Ahhh! know, I have been tracking monthly data (here, here, and here) from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on the number of people who were either previously enrolled in Medicaid or had experienced a denial or termination who then selected a marketplace plan. CMS has just issued new…
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Updated List of Flexibilities Highlight Variety of Approaches States Are Taking to Promote Continuity of Coverage During the Unwinding
To meet the unprecedented moment of the unwinding of the Medicaid continuous coverage protection, states have implemented a range of innovative policies to make the renewal process smoother for enrollees as well as state eligibility workers. One tool that states have increasingly used is Section 1902(e)(14)(A) waivers, or “e14s,” which we have written about previously…
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Medicaid Enrollment is Down by Five Million Including Two Million Children
We’ve been tracking changes in Medicaid enrollment for everyone including children. Sadly, today our tracker of net child Medicaid enrollment losses went over two million nationwide and exceeded five million for adults and children combined. And states are not done yet! According to KFF’s recent estimates, we’re only about one-third of the way through the…
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Eliminating CHIP Premiums Could Help with Child Transitions from Medicaid to CHIP
Last week, Joan Alker and Jade Little blogged about the troubling trend of children losing Medicaid as enrollment declines near 2 million. Leading up to the unwinding, researchers estimated that 57% of children losing Medicaid would be eligible for CHIP based on income. There are many reasons why children don’t successfully transition seamlessly from Medicaid…
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Unwinding Data Recap: What Do We Know So Far?
Last Friday marked the end of the month, which meant the release of new unwinding data from CMS. This time, though, CMS not only published data on renewal outcomes for June, but also posted preliminary outcome data for July, cutting the time lag to two months. As a result, there is now unwinding data available…
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New Resource Helps Pediatricians Inform Families on How to Keep Eligible Children Enrolled in Medicaid
We recently learned that one of the most effective tools for keeping eligible people enrolled in Medicaid – automated or “ex parte” renewals – has not been set up correctly in 30 states, including DC, while other states, such as Texas, are barely using automated systems at all. As Say Ahhh! readers know, Medicaid eligibility…
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How many children are losing Medicaid?
The analysis on this page is part of a larger suite of Medicaid unwinding data. Please visit our “Unwinding the PHE” landing page to view more. As of March 2023, more than 35.1 million children were enrolled in Medicaid and approximately 4.3 million were enrolled in Medicaid coverage funded by CHIP—more than half of all U.S.…
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Looming Government Shutdown Could Undermine Federal Oversight of Medicaid Unwinding
[Editor’s Note: On September 30, Congress approved a last-minute measure to fund the government through November 17, 2023, which temporarily averted a government shutdown. CCF experts will continue to monitor the funding debate and its impact on health care programs and the people who rely on them.] Sadly, we’ve been here before and it’s highly…
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State Response Due Today on Ex Parte Noncompliance Issue Impacting Kid’s Coverage
On August 30, CMS revealed that a number of states were incorrectly processing ex parte (automated renewals), an issue that mostly often impacts children although there are circumstances where other eligible members may be affected. In a nutshell, if one person in the family could not be renewed automatically via ex parte, no one is…
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Webinar: Unwinding the Medicaid Continuous Coverage Protection Part 13 – Where Do Things Stand with the Unwinding and What’s Next?
Download the Presentation Slides
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Medicaid’s Role in Rural Areas Has Grown: Families Have Much at Stake in the Unwinding
In 2017 we published our first report examining the role of Medicaid in rural areas. We’ve updated the data a few times and our newest look is based on Medicaid coverage in 2020-2021. The data underscores the outsize importance of Medicaid as a source of health insurance coverage in rural areas and small towns –…
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Limited Child Medicaid Unwinding Data Begins to Paint Bleak Picture, Highlights Need for More Transparency
As we continue to unpack the first round of unwinding data released by CMS a few weeks ago, it remains disappointing that there is not more data on children. As readers of SayAhhh! know, the stakes for children are very high with over half of the children in the country insured through Medicaid, and they…
