HHS Alarmed By Rapid Pace Of States Dropping People From Medicaid

Modern Healthcare: HHS Offers States New Medicaid Redetermination Flexibilities
The Health and Human Services Department announced new flexibilities for states to use during the Medicaid redeterminations process, as Secretary Xavier Becerra expressed concern at the number of enrollees removed from the program. (Turner, 6/12)

KFF Health News: Biden Admin Implores States To Slow Medicaid Cuts After More Than 1M Enrollees Dropped
Too many Americans are losing Medicaid coverage because of red tape, and states should do more to make sure eligible people keep their health insurance, the Biden administration said Monday. More than a million Americans have lost coverage through the program for low-income and disabled Americans in the past several weeks, following the end of pandemic protections on April 1, according to the latest Medicaid renewal data from more than 20 states. (Recht, 6/13)

AP: Biden Administration Urges States To Slow Down On Dropping People From Medicaid 
In some states, about half of those whose Medicaid renewal cases were decided in April or May have lost their coverage, according to data submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and obtained by The Associated Press. The primary cause is what CMS describes as “procedural reasons,” such as the failure to return forms. “I am deeply concerned with the number of people unnecessarily losing coverage, especially those who appear to have lost coverage for avoidable reasons that State Medicaid offices have the power to prevent or mitigate,” Health and Human Services Secretary Secretary Xavier Becerra wrote in a letter Monday to governors. (Lieb, 6/12)

More on the 'unwinding' of Medicaid —

New Hampshire Public Radio: At Least 45,000 In NH Have Lost Medicaid Since COVID-19 Protections Expired
More than 45,000 people in New Hampshire have lost Medicaid coverage since April 1, when federal health coverage protections tied to the pandemic ended. Those “continuous enrollment” rules — meant to avoid sudden losses of health insurance in the midst of a viral pandemic — prevented states from ending someone’s coverage because of missed paperwork, increases in income or other changes that would normally make them ineligible. (Cuno-Booth, 6/12)

The Baltimore Sun: 35,000 Marylanders Kicked Off Medicaid Due To Procedural Reasons, Losing Eligibility
Nearly 35,000 Marylanders of the 120,000 up for Medicaid renewal last month lost coverage June 1 as the state began the massive process of determining who is still eligible for the federal health insurance program after pandemic-era flexibilities expired with the public health emergency. (Roberts, 6/12)

Axios: "Unwinding" Kicks More Arkansans Off Health Insurance Coverage 
Another 68,838 residents lost Medicaid coverage in May, in addition to the 72,802 who were kicked off the state and federally funded insurance program in April, the Arkansas Department of Human Services reported Thursday. (Golden, 6/12)

North Carolina Health News: With Medicaid 'Unwinding,' Federal Official Warns Of Worrying Trends 
North Carolina is in the process of reviewing Medicaid eligibility for more than 2.9 million residents amid the unwinding of a federal mandate that prevented states from kicking people off the rolls during the COVID-19 pandemic. Known as the continuous coverage requirement, the mandate created by Congress in early 2020 protected Medicaid beneficiaries from losing coverage even if they no longer qualified for the program. (Baxley, 6/13)

More Medicaid and Medicare updates —

KFF Health News: On The Brink Of Homelessness, San Diego Woman Wins The Medi-Cal Lottery
Annie Malloy started getting sick in 2020. Fits of uncontrolled vomiting would hit, causing debilitating nausea and severe dehydration that would send her to the emergency room. She couldn’t keep weight on, and the vomiting got so bad she was admitted to the hospital 26 times that year. Malloy, one of the 15.8 million low-income people enrolled in California’s Medicaid program, called Medi-Cal, racked up extraordinary health care costs while her doctors struggled to diagnose her illness. One hospitalization for a patient in a Medi-Cal managed-care program can cost nearly $18,000, on average. (Hart, 6/13)

AP: Hundreds Of Tribal Members, Mostly Navajo, Living On Phoenix Streets Amid Fake Sober Home Crackdown
Navajo law enforcement teams made contact with several hundred Native Americans from various tribes who are living on the streets in the metro Phoenix area, after the state cracked down on Medicaid fraud and suspended unlicensed sober living homes, Navajo Nation Attorney General Ethel Branch said Monday. Teams that included Navajo police officers reported making contact with more than 270 Native Americans, the majority of them Navajo, Branch said. (Snow, 6/13)

Stat: Transplant Patients Say Medicare Guidance Puts Organs At Risk
Margaret Gamble was supposed to receive a blood test in the mail in May. It’s a regularly scheduled test to check if her kidney — the second she’s received in a transplant — has been damaged in any way. Her kidney needs to be constantly monitored since it’s vulnerable to infections or, critically, rejection by her immune system. But Gamble’s test never came. Her doctor told her there’s been a billing issue with her Medicare insurance, and so now she’s waiting, not knowing how her kidney is doing and if she could be in danger of losing it. (Chen, 6/13)

Reuters: US Budget Deficit Mushrooms In May As Revenue Falls, Medicare Outlays Jump 
The U.S. budget deficit swelled in May from a year earlier as revenue tumbled and Medicare spending surged, the Treasury Department said on Monday in its first monthly accounting of the government's finances since a deal was reached to suspend the debt limit and avoid a first-ever federal default. (6/12)