NBC Nightly News reports that millions of low-income and disabled people are loosing their Medicaid health benefits as states re-examine who qualifies for the Program. Many healthcare advocates are saying that too many people qualified for the Program are incorrectly being removed due to technical errors and red tape. This is putting some in dangerous living situations, such as some are being left alone without the ability to take care of themselves when their medicare coverage was revoked.
During the COVID-19 Pandemic states were required to keep providing healthcare coverage to Medicare recipients even if they lost their eligibility. Many states saw a significant increase in the number of individuals and families seeking Medicaid assistance. The continuous healthcare coverage provision ended on March 31, 2023 and states started a Medicaid Redetermination process to remove participants who are no longer eligible for the Program.
According to watchdog groups as many as 69% of those who lost coverage did so because of procedural failures like notices not being sent to the Program participant’s care coordinators. Patient advocates claim that Florida’s handling of Medicaid Redetermination has been problematically sloppy. Plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit allege Florida has violated the constitutional right of tens-of-thousands of Floridians by ending coverage without adequate notice and with little or no explanation of an actual reason. Florida officials have been silent on the issue except to say that they are committed to ensuring that anyone who is eligible maintains coverage.
Click on the NBC Nightly newscast below to start at the Medicaid story.
