Georgia will boost spending to get state workers help with handling the massive job of checking the eligibility of all 2.8 million people covered by Medicaid after a high number of children have lost coverage.
State officials announced Monday the governor’s office had set aside $54 million in federal funds as part of what Gov. Brian Kemp called a “strategic surge” in the ninth month of the redetermination process.
All states are required to verify the eligibility of everyone with Medicaid coverage after the end of federal pandemic-era protections that had blocked states from dropping people from the program during the public health crisis.
The increased funding was announced the same day the Biden administration sent the governor a letter urging him to take more steps to ensure children are not losing health care coverage because of red tape.
In the letter, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra wrote he was “deeply alarmed” by data showing nearly 150,000 Georgia children had lost Medicaid coverage as of September, representing a 9% decline since the national unwinding of a pandemic-era protection started.