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Wednesday, May 31st, 2023

‘Enormous Policy Failure’: States Throw Hundreds of Thousands—Including Many Children—Off Medicaid

Author:     Jake Johnson
Source:     Common Dreams
Publication Date:     May 27, 2023
 Link: ‘Enormous Policy Failure’: States Throw Hundreds of Thousands—Including Many Children—Off Medicaid
Stephan:  

Here, in contrast to the preceding stories, is what happens when you chose a course other than fostering wellbeing. It just couldn’t be any clearer.

Families gather for resources, including Medicaid eligibility and enrollment information offered by Neighborhood Health, outside the Springfield/Franconia Family Resources Center on April 27, 2023 in Springfield, Virginia. 
Credit: Jahi Chikwendiu / The Washington Post / Getty Images

With a green light from the federal government, states across the U.S. have thrown hundreds of thousands of low-income people off Medicaid in recent weeks—and many have lost coverage because they failed to navigate bureaucratic mazes, not because they were no longer eligible.

More than a dozen states, including Florida and other Republican-led states that have refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, have begun removing people from Medicaid as part of the “unwinding” of a pandemic-era federal policy that temporarily barred governments from kicking people off the program.

In a bipartisan deal late last year, Congress agreed to cut off the pandemic protections, giving states 12 months to redetermine who is eligible for the healthcare program that covers tens of millions of Americans.

The process differs in each state, but Medicaid enrollees […]

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