Chiquita Brooks-LaSure testifies before the Senate Finance Committee during a hearing for the appointment as administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in Washington, D.C. Thursday, April 15, 2021.
Karolina Brehman | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty’s paintings
The Biden administration on Thursday urged corporations to help insure their employees as millions of individuals across the US are suddenly covered by Medicaid.
Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, who heads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, informed the employers within the letter that staff who lose their Medicaid coverage should find a way to enroll in group health plans at any time in the course of the next yr through a special enrollment period.
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Firms are required to provide employees no less than 60 days to enroll for group health plans. But Brooks-LaSure said that is not enough time given what number of persons are suddenly losing Medicaid coverage.
Greater than 3 million people have lost their Medicaid since April, when the protections Congress put in place in the course of the Covid-19 public health emergency expired, in line with KFF, a non-profit health research organization.
Medicaid is a medical health insurance program for individuals with lower incomes. This system is basically funded by the federal government but is basically administered by the states.
Congress has banned states from discharging people from Medicaid in the course of the pandemic in exchange for increased funding. Medicaid coverage increased to a record high of over 86 million people by March 2023, a 35% increase over February 2020.
With these protections expiring, states are reviewing people’s eligibility for the primary time in three years, leading to millions of individuals losing their medical health insurance.
Many individuals can have missed notices from state agencies that their Medicaid coverage has ended and do not realize they’re now not insured until they see a health care provider, Brooks-LaSure said Thursday.
The Department of Health and Human Services estimated that 3.8 million people who find themselves more likely to lose their Medicaid coverage qualify for coverage through their employer. One other 2.7 million people who find themselves more likely to lose Medicaid qualify for subsidized coverage through the Inexpensive Care Act markets.
CMS has established a special enrollment period for individuals who can enroll for subsidized coverage through the Inexpensive Care Act Insurance Marketplaces until July 2024.