Rates of "churn" are high among Medicaid recipients who also qualify for Medicare, mostly due to administrative burdens, an analysis published Nov. 30 by Kaiser Family Foundation found.
The analysis found 38 percent of Medicare and Medicaid recipients lost Medicaid coverage within one year of enrolling.
New proposed rules from CMS are designed to reduce the administrative hurdles to keeping Medicaid enrollment. Here are four other findings to note from KFF's analysis.
- Of those who lost coverage in their first 12 months of enrollment, 31 percent lost this coverage for more than three months.
- These losses reflect administrative burdens, rather than income fluctuations, because most people who qualify for both programs live on fixed incomes, according to KFF. Churn among people eligible for Medicaid alone is often attributed to income changes.
- Some of these coverage losses may be attributable to difficult income verification procedures that would be eliminated under CMS' new proposed rules.
- It is unclear how the proposed rule changes will intersect with the eventual unwinding of the public health emergency for COVID-19, according to KFF. The timing of the end of the PHE and the implementation of the new proposed rule are not yet known. Millions of people are expected to lose Medicaid coverage when continuous coverage requirements end.
Read the full report here.