Medicaid in the headlines: 10 recent updates

As Medicaid redeterminations continue, Florida is facing allegations it illegally discriminated against families and children of color in its redetermination process, and Hawaii has paused disenrollments for the remainder of 2023 in the wake of the Maui wildfires. 

Here are 10 updates on Medicaid Becker's has reported since Aug. 30. 

1. The nation's largest Latino civil rights organization, UnidosUS, along with 12 other state and national organizations, filed a complaint with the HHS Office of Civil Rights regarding what they say is Florida's "illegal discrimination" under the Civil Rights Act against families and children of color amid the state's Medicaid redetermination process.
   
   

2. Medicaid continuous coverage requirements enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic helped keep the number of uninsured people down at record lows in 2022 even as poverty levels soared, according to a New York Times report.
   
   

3. Seven payers, including UnitedHealthcare, Molina Healthcare and Centene subsidiary SuperiorHealth Plan, were awarded contracts to manage Texas' STAR +PLUS program, which provides Medicaid to adults with disabilities or are 65 years of age and older. 
   
   

4. Mississippi could consider Medicaid expansion next year, Mississippi Rep. Jason White told Mississippi Today. Mr. White, who will likely be the next leader of the state's House of Representatives, said Medicaid expansion will be up for consideration under his leadership, in opposition to Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, who has said he will not support expanding the program. 
   
   

5. Hawaii is pausing Medicaid disenrollments for all Hawaii residents for the remainder of 2023 in the wake of the Maui wildfires. 
   
   

6. Medicaid spent $1.1 billion on Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs that can be used for weight loss in 2022, a KFF analysis found. Spending on GLP-1 drugs in Medicaid nearly doubled between 2021 and 2022, rising from $547 million in 2021.  
   
   

7. The Medicaid disenrollment rate for reporting states as of Sept. 8 ranges from 72 percent in Texas to 9 percent in Michigan, according to KFF. Here are state-reported Medicaid disenrollments as a share of total completed renewals. 
   
   

8. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina named Angela Boykin as CEO of Healthy Blue, the company's Medicaid plan, effective Sept. 1.
   
   

9. UnitedHealthcare named Toyosi Okurounmu, MD, as national chief medical officer and vice president of medical leadership and clinical performance for its community and state division, which provides managed Medicaid services across 30 states.
   
   

10. CMS urged states to correct an issue that could result in eligible children being removed from Medicaid. The agency sent a letter to Medicaid directors in all 50 states, informing them automatic renewal systems in several states are calculating eligibility at the family income level, rather than the individual level. CMS said this can result in improper disenrollments, especially for children, because family members may have different eligibility requirements.