The impending renewal process could mean enrollees are left without coverage.
Most adults in a Medicaid-enrolled family lack awareness of the upcoming Medicaid eligibility redetermination, according to analysis from the Urban Institute, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
April 1 is the deadline for states to start redetermining eligibility of Medicaid beneficiaries and the survey by the Urban Institute finds 64.3% of enrollees have heard nothing about the return to regular Medicaid renewal processes as of December 2022.
That's virtually no change when compared to survey results from June 2022, when 62% of beneficiaries reported being unaware of redeterminations.
The most recent survey uncovers that 16% of adults have heard only a little about the return to regular renewal processes, while 13.9% have heard some, and 5.1% have heard a lot.
Regardless of geographical location, awareness remains low. Lack of awareness was 66.5% in the Northeast, 67.6% in the Midwest, 63.4% in the South, and 61.3% in the West.
Whether respondents were in a state that has expanded Medicaid eligibility made no difference either. Lack of awareness was 64.5% in Medicaid expansion states and 63.7% in non-expansion states.
"The end of the public health emergency's continuous coverage requirement means millions of people are at risk of losing continuous coverage in Medicaid, which they have relied upon for nearly three years," Gina R. Hijjawi, senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said in a statement.
"States and the federal government must quickly raise awareness that many families will soon need to take steps to maintain or find new health coverage."
As many as 18 million people could lose Medicaid coverage with the COVID-19 public health emergency ending, the Urban Institute states.
States and the federal government can do their part to offset coverage loss by raising awareness that families will have to take steps to maintain or find new coverage on the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
Jay Asser is the contributing editor for strategy at HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
A survey from the Urban Institute finds that 64% of adults in a Medicaid-enrolled family have no idea that they may lose coverage with the return to regular Medicaid renewal processes.
There has been almost no change in awareness since the previous survey results from June 2022, when 62% of enrollees said they were unaware.
States and the federal government can raise awareness to alleviate potential mass coverage loss.