Missourians at risk for losing Medicaid insurance

With the COVID-19 pandemic unwinding, a new health-related problem is unfolding.

According to a report by Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), most Medicaid enrollees don’t know that states can resume disenrolling people from Medicaid programs, like MO HealthNet. MO HealthNet offers health care coverage for eligible Missourians. 

Continuous enrollment in Medicaid ended on March 31, 2023, and over the coming months, states will redetermine eligibility for people enrolled in Medicaid and will disenroll those who are either no longer eligible or who are unable to complete the renewal process, according to the KFF.

According to a MO HealthNet report, the Department of Social Services identified 198,732 individuals who were enrolled in Medicaid through MO HealthNet or were responsible for a family member who was enrolled in MO HealthNet. 14.73% of the workforce of these companies received MO HealthNet benefits for themselves or their families. 

Roughly two-thirds (65%) of all Medicaid enrollees say they are “not sure” if states are now allowed to remove people from Medicaid if they no longer meet the eligibility requirements or don’t complete the renewal process, with an additional 7% incorrectly saying states will not be allowed to do this, according to KFF.

Nedra Bramlett-Stevenson, a volunteer with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and a Patient Navigator at Barnes Jewish Hospital Breast Health Center, works with patients who may have their coverage redetermined.

“Everybody does not know that they are enrolled in Medicaid, and that is sad,” Bramlett-Stevenson said. “They have the program now where they are trying to make sure that everyone, stays connected to Medicaid, which means making sure they update their address, update their phone number, but how can they do that and they don't know that they're on Medicaid if they're not being notified through email letter, a phone call, a text message”

Nearly half of Medicaid enrollees say they have not previously been through the Medicaid renewal process, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

“They're not being notified by the government,” Bramlett-Stevenson said. “I want to say the federal government is trying to make sure that everybody stays enrolled, but it's kinda hard because again, nobody knows that they have been placed on Medicaid until they may go to get a screening like a mammogram, or they may go to their primary care physician or any type of specialty and they say, ‘well, I don't have insurance.’”

One-third of Medicaid enrollees say they have not provided updated contact information to their state Medicaid agency in the past year,” according to KFF.

Medicaid began the process of making sure that enrollees update their phone number and address to keep their insurance in April earlier this year. Stevenson wants to reiterate the importance of updating information to keep Medicaid coverage.

“We hear all this information about killing people breaking into cars and all this other negative stuff, but nobody is talking about the Medicaid expansion and how you can keep your Medicaid,” she said. “Nobody is talking about that, talk to me about the importance of maintaining continuous coverage, it’s important because since the pandemic, everybody has stopped getting their screenings, and now that everything is coming back up, everybody needs to know it is very important for you to go to your primary care physician.”

While about six in ten of those with Medicaid as their only source of coverage would look for coverage from other sources if they were told they were no longer eligible, over four in ten say they wouldn’t know where to look for other coverage or would be uninsured, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).

“It's important that we get back to regular screenings, like mammogram screenings, diabetes, prostate cancer; all the screenings are very important for, you know, that we've been getting before the pandemic,” Bramlett-Stevenson said.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, states kept people continuously enrolled in Medicaid in exchange for enhanced federal funding. 

“They don't know and because it's not being talked about,” the patient navigator said. “The only way it's being talked about is because you have advocates that's out here going to different Federally-Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and going to St. Louis County clinics and going to mom-and-pop shops, and also going to the grocery stores to hand out flyers.” 

A majority of Medicaid enrollees say having expert help with the renewal process would be useful, according to KFF. When asked what people can do if they lose their coverage, Bramlett-Stevenson suggested getting an expert or a patient navigator like herself can aid in getting the coverage back.

“They need an advocate, healthcare provider or a healthcare person to help them and push them to get back onto Medicaid,” she said. 

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network volunteer went on to passionately talk about getting health resources into the community so the uninsured can get the benefits outlined in the Medicaid Expansion.

“We are aware of what resources we have here in Missouri and nobody is aware of it, and again, it's because you get the gunshots and the killings and everything else overrides that, and that's a part of our community that is failing,” Bramlett-Stevenson said. “It is having healthcare because people lost their jobs in the pandemic and they have no way of getting back the coverage that they lost, so now that they have the Medicaid expansion that's out there, and they need a patient navigator.”