The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is highly concerned with procedural enrollment amid the large number of enrollees losing coverage during the reinstatement of eligibility checks.
Dan Tsai, director of the Centers for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program Services, hosted a news conference Tuesday call to action from Health and Human Services Secretary Javier Becerra on Monday. President Joe Biden’s administration is pushing states to take better care not to remove eligible beneficiaries from the rolls for procedural reasons, HHS expects 15 million people Will opt out of Medicaid until the process is complete.
Medicaid reset It resumed less than two months after it was suspended from 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and already more than 1 million people have been removed from the program, according to data compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Tsai said CMS plans to release data on cancellations from rescheduling next month.
Becerra wrote to governors on Monday, urging them to use the flexibility to facilitate a smooth rescheduling process and ensure that people whose incomes are still low enough to qualify for Medicaid are eligible for administrative reasons. Don’t lose coverage, such as when state officials don’t have up-to-date contact information.
Tsai said, “We are urging every governor and every state to adopt every strategy.” ,
Can also state with the permission of CMS partner with health insurance companies Tsai said conduct Medicaid checks to enroll enrollees, issue one-month benefit extensions to enrollees for procedural reasons to give them time to update their information, and to help beneficiaries stay enrolled. to work with community-based organizations and pharmacies, Tsai said. CMS has approved more than 250 waivers from states seeking flexibility as they conduct their legally mandated eligibility checks, he said.
CMS also warned that it will exercise its authority if it determines that they are not following federal rules to protect Medicaid beneficiaries from losing undue benefits. “We will not hesitate to use all of our enforcement tools to ensure that states are doing what they need to do during the renewal process,” said Administrator Chiquita Brooks-Lasur.