Over 500,000 Texans lose Medicaid insurance after continuous COVID-19 coverage for over three years, as reported by the state’s health and human services commission.
Primarily children, young adults, and new moms impacted, especially those with children in the last three years. Insurance coverage lost by Texans, ending in May or June, depending on case processing, according to a commission spokesperson.
Texas began the years-long process of examining the 5.9 million people who get Medicaid assistance and determining how many of these individuals remain eligible for the program in April.
Qualified, Non-qualified and Denied
According to commission data, Texas has analyzed more than 600,000 people. Of those, approximately 112,000 persons were deemed to be still qualified and were able to preserve their Medicaid coverage.
Almost 96,000 people were deemed no longer qualified for the program, and the procedure for renewing for another 173,000 Texans is still ongoing.
The remaining — about 405,000 Texans — were denied coverage for procedural grounds, such as failing to answer to the state’s request for information or failing to give the needed information on time. If someone receives a request for additional data from the state, they’re given 30 days to submit their information.
Advocates have long warned about this issue, mentioning that people might miss mail, phone calls, or texts due to address or contact changes.
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Thousands in Tarrant County May Lose Eligibility
Tarrant County had about 394,000 Medicaid beneficiaries earlier this year. Most, 78%, were under 21 as per state data. Researchers estimated 50,000 to 66,000 residents could lose eligibility, but specific data on their locations hasn’t been released by the state.
The Biden administration asked states to conduct more outreach to Medicaid participants and to slow down the removal of people from the program in June.
Source: YAHOO