As pandemic policies end, hundreds of thousands have lost their health insurance – Mother Jones

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about two months Earlier, a pandemic-era policy that prevented states from dropping people ineligible from Medicaid expired. Now, we are starting to see the results. according to recent new York Times reportsMillions of low-income people have already lost their health insurance, including those who may still be eligible for coverage but appear to have been booted for “procedural reasons,” such as failing paperwork .

At the start of the pandemic, the policy was first enacted under the Coronavirus Response Act, allowing families to preserve their insurance under Medicaid even if they didn’t fill out the necessary forms to re-enroll. As I mentioned earlier, the program saw 20.2 million new recipients over the course of two years Kaiser Family Foundation, Since the end of the program in late March, states have once again begun testing Medicaid eligibility, requiring families to file paperwork to verify their eligibility.

While a definite total of people who have lost coverage is currently unknown, nineteen states The process of removing people from the health insurance program has already started. Arkansas, one of first states At least 73,000 people have already been stripped of insurance, including 27,000 children, to begin phasing out coverage, reports times, Unlike other states, Arkansas is targeted To do it at a faster pace — the plan is to get it done in just six months instead of the year allotted by President Biden. one in wall street journal op-edGov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders designed the process as necessary to “preserve resources for those in need and to follow the law.”

Other states, such as Florida and Indiana, have also terminated coverage for large numbers of people for simple procedural reasons, such as failing to file paperwork proving their eligibility. times Note that many of those losing coverage are children.