Some state directors said it is a misconception that everyone removed from Medicaid will become uninsured, and many are finding coverage on state marketplaces.
“I think there’s a misperception that everybody who loses Medicaid is just uninsured, and that’s not the case,” Lisa Lee, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Medicaid Services, said at a National Academy for State Health Policy preconference.
According to data presented at the conference, reported by Politico, 30 percent of those disenrolled from Medicaid coverage found insurance through the state’s ACA Exchange. In Massachusetts, 25 percent of those disenrolled from Medicaid enrolled on the Marketplace, and in Kentucky, 13 percent did.
Federal and state-based insurance marketplaces received around 140,000 applications from people who previously had Medicaid coverage in April, according to data from CMS.
As of Aug. 14, at least 4.5 million people have been disenrolled from Medicaid as states determine who is no longer eligible for the program, according to KFF. Of those disenrolled, 75 percent were removed from the program for procedural reasons, rather than being determined no longer eligible for Medicaid benefits.
