Keep up outreach to get back Medicaid coverage for dropped recipients

Most of the nearly 4 million low-income Americans who lost their Medicaid insurance coverage within the last few months were dropped because of bureaucracy — not because they don’t qualify.

Here in Illinois, more than 47,000 Illinois residents have been kicked off their Medicaid plans as of Aug. 1. It’s a scenario taking place all across the country since the end of pandemic-era protections that kept Medicaid coverage in place without individuals having to prove their eligibility.

Like others around the country, most Illinoisans were dropped because they didn’t submit their eligibility information on time, as WBEZ’s Mawa Iqbal reported.

Although the state’s Department of Healthcare and Family Services and others made a concerted effort to remind recipients that the government had resumed its annual proof of eligibility requirement, apparently not everyone got the memo.

Doubling down to get the word out is imperative, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told governors in a recent letter, expressing concern over terminations due to “‘red tape’ and other paperwork issues.”

Four in ten children, eight in ten children in poverty, one in six adults and almost half of adults in poverty were covered by Medicaid in 2021, according to KFF, formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation.

No Medicaid recipient, many of whom are people of color, should continue to lose out because they didn’t know that the eligibility requirements have resumed,.

Maybe some didn’t see or read ads to that effect, or just forgot. Maybe they didn’t log onto the online toolkit to submit their material because they don’t own a computer. Or maybe even after they turned in their materials, they were still terminated, as the Shriver Center on Poverty Law found with some residents they were assisting.

Whatever the problem, fixing it is key.

The Illinois Association of Medicaid Health Plans says it will ramp up outreach once HFS pinpoints the dropped Medicaid recipients by age, sex and geographic location. Targeted efforts are a good step.

Plus, dropped Medicaid recipients in Illinois have a 90-day grace period post-deadline to turn in their eligibility information. When that three-month period is up, they’ll be directed on how they could enroll in other types of insurance.

Those who still have time can get more guidance on Get Covered Illinois, or renew their plans at abe.illinois.gov.

Our most vulnerable residents are deprived in so many ways. Illinois is taking the right steps so they aren’t deprived of the health care coverage they’re entitled to.

The Sun-Times welcomes letters to the editor and op-eds. See our guidelines.