During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE), states were incentivized under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) to keep Medicaid beneficiaries continuously enrolled. As a result, Medicaid enrollment surged dramatically. The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) delinked the PHE and the Medicaid continuous enrollment policy. While the PHE will end on May 11, 2023, the CAA ends continuous enrollment on March 31, 2023. The policy permits states to begin eligibility determination reviews on February 1, and coverage termination notices to be sent out beginning April 1. As a result of the unwinding, the number of people expected to lose Medicaid coverage and remain uninsured is likely to increase drastically nationwide Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, Geiger Gibson colleagues Sara Rosenbaum and MaryBeth Musumeci, with Sara Collins and Alex Somodevilla, discuss how the unwinding is likely to unfold, and highlight key issues and concerns, especially in states that move quickly to disenroll and those that do not insure low-income, working-age adults.
Read Unwinding Continuous Medicaid Enrollment
Read the related Geiger Gibson data note The Potential Effect of Medicaid Unwinding on Community Health Centers