KFF Report: Medicaid Enrollment Down 9.5 Million

Enrollment in Medicaid has fallen by approximately 9.5 million people from last April and is on track to return to about pre-pandemic levels, Phil Galewitz reports on Feb. 7 for KFF Health News.

“Medicaid enrollment,” writes Galewitz, “grew to a record 94 million enrollees as a result of a rule that prohibited states from terminating coverage during the nation’s public health emergency.” Since last April, over 16 million people have been removed in a process called “unwinding.”

Per KFF’s Medicaid enrollment and unwinding tracker, “At least 16,938,000 Medicaid enrollees have been disenrolled as of Feb. 13, 2024, based on the most current data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Overall, 32 percent of people with a completed renewal were disenrolled in reporting states while 68 percent, or 34.3 million enrollees, had their coverage renewed.” Across reporting states, there is a broad variation in disenrollment rates. About 70 percent of the disenrollments were due to coverage termination for procedural reasons, which are instances where renewal processes were not completed due to outdated contact information or people not completing renewals within a specified period. Children account for about 39 percent of disenrollments.

“As states unwind the continuous enrollment provision over the following 12 months, they will redetermine eligibility for all Medicaid enrollees and will disenroll those who are no longer eligible or who may remain eligible but are unable to complete the renewal process. Millions of people are expected to lose Medicaid coverage during this unwinding period,” KFF reports.