Regulators warn states that children are improperly losing health coverage

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Wednesday warned all 50 states that children may be improperly losing their health coverage under Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). All states must determine whether eligibility systems issues are causing people, especially children, to lose coverage under the programs when they remain eligible and act immediately to correct the problems and reinstate coverage, the regulator said. Since the end of pandemic-era waivers that modified Medicaid and CHIP eligibility requirements, states have resumed their regular process for reviewing enrollment in the programs. At least 5.5 million Medicaid enrollees have ben disenrolled since the pandemic-era waivers ended, according to health policy nonprofit KFF. CMS said it believes that eligibility systems in a number of states are programmed incorrectly and are processing automatic renewals at the family level and not the individual level, even though individual family members have different eligibility requirements. Children have higher eligibility thresholds and are more likely to be eligible for Medicaid or CHIP even when their parents no longer qualify, CMS said.

-Eleanor Laise

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08-30-23 1436ET

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