States begin post-pandemic Medicaid roll cleanup, dropping more than 1 million ineligible people

Since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic Medicaid enrollment freeze in April, states have dropped more than 1 million ineligible people from their rolls, according to data reviewed by The Associated Press. 

By federal law during the pandemic, states were not allowed to perform eligibility reviews for those on Medicaid, and were given more funding to handle the increase of people enrolled.

As of the most recent available data in February, more than 93 million people nationwide were enrolled in the low-income healthcare program, an increase of nearly one-third since January 2020. 

States began the eligibility reviews in April and May, with more than two dozen removing about 1.5 million people from Medicaid rolls, according to publicly available reports and data that AP obtained. Most people were dropped for not filling out paperwork. 

While the eligibility review is required by the federal government, the Biden administration is concerned over the efficiency of some states. 

“Pushing through things and rushing it will lead to eligible people — kids and families — losing coverage for some period of time,” top federal Medicaid official Daniel Tsai recently told reporters. 

Florida has dropped the most people, with several hundred thousand removed from Medicaid rolls. More than 140,000 people have been removed from Medicaid in Arkansas. 

During the pandemic, Idaho continued evaluating people’s eligibility for Medicaid, but didn’t remove anyone from the rolls. The state started processing those cases in April, removing nearly 67,000 of the 92,000 people whose cases had already been decided. 

States have a year to work through a backlog of cases to determine people’s eligibility for Medicare based on their income or life circumstances. However, getting responses from everyone has been difficult as some people have moved, changed their contact information, or ignored the mailings sent about the renewal process.