At the start of the pandemic, the federal government relaxed Medicaid rules to allow more people to stay insured. But with the federal pandemic emergency declaration set to end by October, up to 1.3 million Texans could lose their health coverage.
to accelerate their removal faster than required by the federal government — and with limited resources — has advocates worried that millions more could lose coverage due to administrative glitches even if they do qualify.
Texas has the nation’s highest rate of uninsured people and is one of 12 states that has refused to expand Medicaid to include more people as part of the Affordable Care Act. Expanding Medicaid could add as many as 1.3 Texans to the rolls, researchers say. The idea was to prevent people from losing coverage at a time when record numbers of people were losing jobs, employer health insurance and homes all while facing a huge public health threat.
The current expiration date is July 15. The deadline for notifying states to prepare for its end was Monday, and it passed without that notice. So while there has been no formal announcement, the current presumption is that the public health emergency will be extended at least until October. Texas HHSC, tasked with handling the influx, anticipates a “large volume of work” and “potential strain on the eligibility system” when the process of dismantling the PHE begins, according to plans the agency released in March.
Critics of the Medicaid program say they believe the state will take the time it needs to effectively make the change back to pre-pandemic era rules without coverage gaps and that it’s necessary to drop unqualified people from the program as fast as possible in order to keep services flowing to those who still need them.
“Like many states, Texas is balancing multiple policy, operational and financial priorities in unwinding continuous Medicaid coverage related to the federal public health emergency,” according to an emailed statement from HHSC press officer Kelli Weldon. “Texas HHSC’s estimated timeline for ending continuous Medicaid coverage is based on our projections of workforce capacity and workload. It is important to note that the timeline in our plan is an estimate.
Another 280,000 Texans are expected to be able to transition to a different eligibility group within Medicaid.
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