Alabama is one of six states yet to report how many people have lost Medicaid coverage during the “unwinding” process that followed the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
The Alabama Medicaid Agency began evaluating Medicaid recipients’ eligibility for coverage in June. The agency completed two months of redeterminations, but those numbers have yet to be reported.
“The Alabama Medicaid Agency is not publishing termination statistics at this time since we just completed the first month of terminations,” Melanie Cleveland, Alabama Medicaid’s spokesperson, wrote in an email July 6.
On Aug. 2, after the state completed its second month of terminations, Cleveland said those numbers were still being “validated,” and only validated numbers are reported to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
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The agency has not responded to further requests for information.
As part of the response to the pandemic in 2020, the federal government banned states from terminating anyone’s Medicaid coverage. During that time, Alabama’s Medicaid enrollment went from just over 1 million Medicaid-eligible people before COVID-19 to 1.37 million eligible in May 2023.
During the unwinding period, states are responsible for determining whether people are still eligible for Medicaid coverage after the public health emergency ended, and an estimated 170,000 Alabamians could lose coverage in the next year.
The information provided by Alabama to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services only includes about 120,000 policy renewals initiated in April by Alabama Medicaid. The state also reported call center volume, call center wait times and the call center abandonment rate for both April and March.
Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, North Dakota and Wisconsin have not reported unwinding data.
(READ MORE: More than 1 million dropped from Medicaid as states start post-pandemic purge of rolls)
Medicaid in Alabama mainly covers children, older adults and the disabled. Childless able-bodied adults almost never qualify. Adults with qualifying children must make no more than 18% of the poverty line ($2,673 a year for an individual; $4,475 for a family of three) to receive Medicaid.
Robin Rudowitz, vice president of KFF and director for the Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured, said that while Alabama started the unwinding process in June, other states that started after it have already published data.
Rudowitz said Alabama has taken advantage of several federal flexibility waivers meant to help states manage the volume of the redetermination caseload, but also to avoid terminating coverage for those who may still be eligible.
Robyn Hyden, executive director of Alabama Arise, said she believes Alabama Medicaid has a good plan in place, but there are still concerns that at the end of the process, those most vulnerable might lose coverage.
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“We likely will have people, mostly kids, but also, low-income seniors, folks with disabilities, who are going to lose coverage,” Hyden said. “And they’re going to lose coverage sometimes because they didn’t do the paperwork … or, you know, they didn’t receive notification.”
She said the agency mailed renewal notices through regular mail, as well as contacted recipients by email, text message and phone when it was time to renew, but that’s only if the agency has that information. The agency also held online meetings for providers and provided outreach resources to help reach patients. Cleveland said.
Medicaid recipients who were terminated July and Aug. 1 will have 90 days to reinstate their coverage if they are still eligible, Cleveland said.
Read more at AlabamaReflector.com.