Millions Risk Losing US Healthcare If Covid Emerg. Declaration Not Extended By July 15: Medicaid
- 'Millions risk losing US healthcare when Covid emergency declaration expires.' The Guardian, May 26, 2022. -Ed.
- An estimated 5.3 million to 14.2 million could lose Medicaid coverage when the public health emergency ends in July -
When the US federal government’s pandemic health emergency declaration expires, millions of Americans are at risk of losing healthcare coverage through Medicaid with potentially devastating consequences. According to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, an estimated 5.3 million to 14.2 million could lose their Medicaid coverage when the Covid-19 public health emergency ends on 15 July if it is not extended. The analysts cited the wide range due to uncertainty on how states will respond to the end of continuous enrollment and how many people will lose coverage as a result. Medicaid enrollment is estimated to reach 110.2 million people by the end of fiscal year 2022, with enrollment expected to decline significantly when continuous enrollment ends.
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Dylan Brown of New Jersey is disabled & relies on Medicaid for a home aide he requires around the clock to be able to get out of bed, dress & feed himself. He constantly worries about losing his Medicaid & Social Security disability insurance due to income & asset eligibility requirements & is very concerned about losing Medicaid when continuous enrollment ends. “As I’ve been learning, trying to maintain my eligibility, you get a different story every time & you just have to hope one of them is right. And I’ve sort of been learning, none of them are really right,” he said. Without Medicaid, he would have to rely on his parents, who work full-time, to provide the care he needs & pay out of pocket for care to the extent his family could afford it.
These options, Brown argued, aren’t feasible as he is planning to start law school this fall at Rutgers University, & his parents shouldn’t have to uproot their lives to help him function, which is the responsibility of Medicaid. “There shouldn’t be a cutoff date. There’s no reasonable argument for not giving disabled people the care they need to survive,” he added. “Regardless of what you’re feeling on whether people should have free healthcare, the disabled need it. There are no alternatives for us. It’s Medicaid or bust, & when the Medicaid rules are this convoluted & hard to keep track of, it almost feels like a full- time job just keeping my benefits.”
During the pandemic, the federal govt. required states to continuously enroll Medicaid recipients into the program, providing $100.4 bn in new funds to cover the costs of doing so, halting coverage gaps & loss of eligibility for those who rely on healthcare coverage through Medicaid. The current pandemic health emergency declaration is set to expire in mid-July. It is expected to be extended again, but an extension date has yet to be set by the US Dept. of Health & Human Services. “Medicaid provided invaluable coverage to individuals during the pandemic. It helped insulate people from loss of coverage that is associated with job losses, especially in the early stages of the pandemic,” said Dr Eric T Roberts at the Univ. of Pittsburgh. “Now, we face this unwinding of those provisions and a lot of confusion to beneficiaries & the public about how individuals will navigate that process...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/26/millions-risk-losing-us-healthcare-when-pandemic-emergency-declaration-expires
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