Three months after the end of a pandemic policy that prevented states from kicking people off Medicaid, most Connecticut enrollees still qualify for coverage.
During the public health emergency, the federal government allowed people to stay on Medicaid, even if their income rose above the eligibility limits. On March 31, that measure came to an end, and the 12-month process of “unwinding” began. During unwinding, the state is reassessing eligibility for broad swaths of Medicaid enrollees for the first time in three years.
Nearly 75% of the roughly 274,000 residents who went through unwinding in April, May and June kept their Medicaid coverage, according to data submitted by the Department of Social Services to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The rate could change slightly as the state has a window to resubmit the data to CMS, according to a DSS spokesperson.
Earlier this year, DSS projected that, during unwinding, the number of applications for Medicaid would increase by 70% over the previous year. At the time, legislators and health care workers worried that state agencies would have trouble keeping up with the sheer number of applications, leading to widespread gaps in coverage.
As of May, the state had a lower disenrollment rate than the national average, meaning that Connecticut residents are more likely to re-qualify for coverage than people in the other states.
Still, over 62,000 people have lost Medicaid since unwinding began.
Around 10,000 people lost coverage because they were no longer eligible, representing just 4% of total renewals. Approximately 52,000 people — 19% of renewals — lost coverage because they did not update their personal information as the application process requires.
Peter Hadler, the deputy commissioner at the DSS said that, in April, based on the data DSS did have access to, roughly two-thirds of those who didn't update their information would no longer qualify. This group would include, for example, people who qualified for Medicaid because they lost their jobs early in the pandemic but who have since found employment that puts them over the income limit.
Read more: Most CT residents enduring Medicaid ‘unwinding’ keep coverage