22,911 Michigan residents have lost Medicaid coverage in June and July. That’s after the federal government ended a three-year freeze that had been preventing people from losing coverage during the pandemic. Now, the state of Michigan is going through the process of determining who is still eligible for coverage.
Meghan Groen works in Medicaid enrollment at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
She said many residents lost coverage because they earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. Those residents have been able to access healthcare through their employers or the individual Marketplace. Other residents did not submit updated paperwork or contact information.
In June, state health officials extended the deadline for enrollees to submit updated paperwork. Allowing the state an additional month to reach residents, and enrollees more time to file their paperwork. Now, the deadline to return updated enrollment packets to the state has been extended to sixty days from the start of a recipient's original enrollment month.
Groen said many residents took advantage of the extended deadlines over the summer.
“In that additional month we gave them, they did return their paperwork so we thought that it was very successful and wanted to make sure that we gave every single Medicaid beneficiary that same opportunity to have that additional month,” Groen said.
Groen encourages residents to update their contact information and check when their redetermination month is.
“We were able, in Michigan, to give folks that extra month to get their paperwork back. But if they are not able to get the paperwork in, and we're not able to verify their eligibility, then they will be disenrolled,” Groen said.
Groen also said many Michigan residents with reliable contact information and updated information in state systems were able to passively reenroll. In total, 224,757 Michigan residents maintained their coverage in June and July.
More information about the re-enrollment process can be found at: michigan.gov/MIBridges.