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This issue brief answers key questions about Medicaid retroactive coverage, describes Iowa’s recent Section 1115 waiver amendment, considers the policy implications of retroactive coverage waivers, and identifies issues to watch.
To better understand the experiences of Medicaid enrollees who have completed the renewal process since the start of the unwinding period, KFF conducted five virtual focus groups in September to learn about their experiences with Medicaid, awareness of the end of the continuous enrollment provision, experiences renewing their coverage since the start of the unwinding, and if they were disenrolled, efforts to regain Medicaid or transition to other coverage.
Data are important to help monitor how unwinding is going across states, but trackers and dashboards only tell part of the unwinding story. This brief examines the perspectives of state officials and others involved in the unwinding process. The brief provides information on outreach and engagement, renewal processes and coverage transitions, providing lessons for the ongoing unwinding process, as well as for how to conduct more effective Medicaid renewals generally in the future.
At the beginning of 2024, nine months into states’ efforts to unwind the Medicaid continuous enrollment provision and reverify enrollees’ eligibility, states have completed renewals for less than half of all enrollees. To gain a better understanding of what challenges states are facing and the effects of different unwinding strategies, KFF interviewed state Medicaid officials in Arizona, Indiana, and Pennsylvania, as well as others involved, including representatives from Medicaid, managed care plans, legal aid organizations,…
Ten months into the unwinding of the Medicaid continuous enrollment provision, KFF tracking shows that states have reported outcomes for roughly half of the people expected to undergo renewals during the unwinding period. This policy watch examines the latest data and key issues to watch during the next phase of the unwinding.
As a result of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) , states have experienced increased enrollment along with administrative challenges. After the PHE ends, states are likely to have renewal and redetermination backlogs and will face decisions around continuing temporary policy changes. This brief highlights key issues from the new CMS guidance to states on how to unwind emergency authorities and resume normal eligibility and enrollment operations.
This issue brief examines some of the other options policymakers may consider to extend coverage to people in the gap, including increased fiscal incentives for states, a narrower public option, and making people with incomes below the poverty level eligible for enhanced ACA premium subsidies.
A new KFF issue brief explores several potential policy options that would help close the Affordable Care Act’s "coverage gap," including providing further new incentives for states to expand Medicaid, creating a new "public option" or extending ACA Marketplace premium subsidies to low-income people who don’t currently qualify for federal help. At stake is affordable health coverage for 2.2 million uninsured people with incomes below the federal poverty level ($12,880 annually for an individual in…
As states plan for the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, the resumption of eligibility redeterminations and disenrollments when the continuous Medicaid enrollment requirement is lifted could lead to coverage disruptions and losses, according to a new KFF 50-state survey. The requirement, a condition of states receiving enhanced federal Medicaid funding during the pandemic, has helped drive Medicaid and CHIP enrollment to a record 85 million people, an increase of 19.1 percent since the…
Recent policy attention has focused on efforts to reduce the number of uninsured people in the U.S. by expanding eligibility for coverage assistance, including enhanced premium subsidies in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace and filling the Medicaid “coverage gap.” A new KFF analysis shows that a majority of the 27.4 million people who remained uninsured in 2020 already are eligible for financial assistance for coverage through Medicaid/CHIP or the Marketplace, suggesting that policies in…
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