Georgia has so far dropped hundreds of thousands of people from Medicaid, mostly for administrative reasons such as problems with renewal application paperwork.
The cutoffs are stacking up as the state continues reevaluating everyone’s Medicaid eligibility with coverage after the end of federal COVID-19 public health emergency rules last spring. The nationwide process is known as “Medicaid redetermination” or “Medicaid unwinding.”
The pandemic emergency rules had prevented states from terminating anyone from their Medicaid rolls.
Now, to stay covered, everyone in the program has to reapply. In Georgia, that’s nearly 2.8 million adults, as well as children with PeachCare for Kids.
“A lot of them are just not sure what that means,” said Deanna Williams, an enrollment assister at the nonprofit Georgians for a Healthy Future.
She said many of her clients are surprised to learn their coverage is suspended.
“It’s typically they’re finding out when they’re either going to a pharmacy or going to a doctor’s office and they’re having that visit,” she said.
“For them, that means they may be without medication for a week or two, or sometimes a month, depending on how long this process is. So it’s hard to get those calls. I try to take the extra step to see how we can help them during that process and waiting period. That’s how I try to help my clients through it.”
To help Medicaid members avoid losing coverage, Georgia is sending out individual notifications and advising them to update their contact information in the state Gateway system proactively.
But Williams said many people either haven’t gotten that message, or have attempted the process but made mistakes in submitting their renewal paperwork.
So far, Georgia has cut off more than 504,000 people just for these types of administrative issues, with another almost 93,000 people deemed ineligible.
Anyone whose…
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