Healthcare Reform - Unwinding Medicaid A Tangled Mess

January 31, 2023 & February 1, 2023

Feb 01, 2023

Good Day Healthcare Advocate

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Mission

The Healthcare delivery system in the United States is a patchwork that leaves much to be desired. It is the most expensive system among the top 35 industrial countries and covers far fewer participants delivering lower levels of quality care than many of our peer nations. This blog will provide:

Current problems in healthcare
Actions you can take
References

Current State of Affairs - Unwinding Medicaid (Tangled Mess)

MEDICAID/CHIP

On January 26, 2023 we discussed the situation with Medicaid/CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program) and automatic renewals disappearing on March 31, 2023.

Let’s recap. One of ways to combat the pandemic is to make sure that almost all of your population has access to health care so that they can be immunized and treated as quickly as possible to stop the spread of the virus. There were about 10.5% uninsured when the pandemic started. Many of them were poor but not poor enough for Medicaid/CHIP in 2019. Those programs were expanded to cover more people and sure enough the uninsured rate dropped to 8.6%. Medicaid enrollees were automatically re-enrolled every year while the pandemic lasted to make sure that they had access to care while the pandemic was raging. Automatic re enrollment comes to an end on March 31st.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation the number of people currently enrolled who will lose coverage is between 5 million and 14 million people. Many of them qualify for Medicaid/CHIP but the states will prioritize who they will take.into the program. The states are developing those plans now and will submit them to the Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS) shortly.

Here is a link to the Kaiser Family Foundation Report, link. It is quite a wake up call. Many millions of people will be disenrolled when Medicaid reverts to its old status (called unwinding). The federal government is trying to make coverage available to them via the ACA Marketplace. According to the KFF report (see link section 10) a recent Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC a government office) analysis examined coverage transitions for adults and children who were disenrolled from Medicaid or separate CHIP (S-CHIP) and found that very few adults or children transitioned to federal Marketplace coverage, only 21% of children transitioned from Medicaid to S-CHIP, while 47% of children transitioned from S-CHIP to Medicaid. I went to the CMS website for Medicaid unrolling (link) and found that indeed the government will offer ACA plans for low cost, as low as $10/month/person.

Problem: If you are on Medicaid and you are in states that expanded Medicaid then your family of 4 income (2 Adults and 2 children) must be less than 138% of the federal poverty limit or $38,295/year or $755.56/week. After rent and utilities it is no wonder so few people pick up the ACA plans since even $10/month x 4 people x 12 months is $480 for the plan plus deductibles and copays. Good Luck.

This is a good real world example why we need Universal healthcare. We will be putting millions of lives at risk without needed healthcare. Remember that Medicaid expansion saved 19,000 lives. We don’t need to go backwards, we need to go forwards.

What You Can Do Today Use RESISTBOT

Use RESISTBOT below to send the email below to President Biden, Vice President Harris, and your Senators and Representatives.

Text SIGN PNKWKU to 50409

We have a healthcare crisis in America. 27% of the population is on Medicaid and 8.6 % of the population has no health insurance. On March 31st of this year Medicaid will return to its previous state. Automatic re enrollment will cease and the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that between 5 million and 14 million Americans will lose their healthcare. Moreover, the government’s own Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access analysis shows that even though ACA plans will be offered at reduced rates very people can afford to pay for them let alone deductibles and copays. This is a great reason to have UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE. I want you to pass either Representative Jayapal’s Medicare for All or Senator Sanders, pick one and pass it. I want the Executive branch to set up a commission to design the program much the way Oregon and Washington States are doing. Please help us and do this. Thank you.