The advocacy groups said in their May 23 letter that 82 percent of those who have been disenrolled so far — 205,122 people — were disenrolled because they did not respond to requests to update their information with the state, not necessarily because they were determined to be no longer eligible. The groups said they have also received reports from Floridians being disenrolled from Medicaid without having received notice from the Florida Department of Children and Families as outlined in the state’s redetermination plan.
Florida Department of Children and Families Deputy Chief of Staff Mallory McManus told Florida Politics the department has a “robust outreach campaign, including up to 13 direct contact attempts to customers who do not submit a timely application.”
“The department is utilizing an aggressive text and email effort in addition to traditional mail, and if all those efforts are unsuccessful, we are calling customers to encourage them to submit an application,” Ms. McManus told the news outlet. “These efforts have significantly improved the response rate compared to previous redetermination cycles. We will continue to implement these customer-focused approaches to ensure individuals who are eligible maintain their Medicaid coverage.”
Congressional Florida Democrats have also called on the governor to pause redeterminations.
“If the Florida redetermination period continues at its current trajectory, we will see an unnecessary and harmful increase in uninsured children, postpartum parents, individuals amid complex treatment, and other others, including many that may remain eligible for coverage,” the lawmakers wrote in a May 25 letter.
