JEFFERSON CITY — Amid a post-pandemic purge of the state’s Medicaid roles, Missouri officials announced Tuesday that beginning Jan. 1, children will not be kicked off the federal health insurance program for a year if their parents no longer qualify.
The change is in response to a mandate issued in September by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services designed to ensure that eligible children have uninterrupted coverage over the course of a year.
“If a parent gains income, we will not affect the children,†said Kim Evans, director of the Missouri Department of Social Services family health division.
Evans announced the change to cheers from some members of the MO HealthNet oversight committee, which monitors Missouri’s Medicaid program.
“It is going to be a big change for everyone,†Evans said. “We are working on those changes now.â€
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The new policy comes as states continue to assess the eligibility of every Medicaid participant after being barred from dropping enrollees during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The process, which began in June, attempts to determine if people are making too much money to qualify or whether they have moved out of state. It is expected to take a year to cycle through the more than 1.4 million participants in the MO HealthNet program.
Through the first three months of that process, nearly half of all coverage terminations were children, DSS data shows.
It remains unclear whether those 40,000 children have regained coverage and what, if anything, they can do to restore coverage beginning Jan. 1.
The group with the next highest rate of lost coverage are adults who became eligible for Medicaid after it was expanded in the state. About 33% of the coverage losses affect the low-income recipients.
Enrollees have 90 days after termination to submit required paperwork for reconsideration and to be reinstated if eligible. After 90 days, they need to fill out a new application to be enrolled.
Evans told the panel that complying with the change could be tricky if a child moves in with a different parent during the year, potentially affecting their income eligibility.
But, she said, “This is very similar to what we did during the pandemic.â€
According to KFF Health News, states have reviewed the eligibility of more than 28 million people and terminated coverage for over 10 million of them. Millions more are expected to lose Medicaid in the coming months.
The process of reviewing all recipients’ eligibility has been rocky for many Medicaid participants. Some renewal forms have been lost in the mail. Others have miscalculated income levels. Waiting times on phones have been lengthy.
In announcing the change, federal officials said ensuring coverage promotes access to preventive and primary care, necessary treatment for health care needs that may arise and continuity of care.
“Children should always have access to health care services. No exceptions. Thanks to the actions taken by the Biden-Harris Administration, states must provide all children with Medicaid and CHIP continuous coverage for 12 months,†said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.
In addition to helping children, the federal decision also is expected to reduce the administrative burden on the state due to repeated eligibility reviews and reenrollment after a gap in coverage.