by Martina Wood, Chief Operating Officer, FEI Systems
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended and affected almost everything in our daily lives, from our routines to our social calendars to our bank accounts. Over the past two years, millions across the country have experienced the loss of loved ones and livelihoods because of the disease. As we seek to rebound and rebuild as a nation amidst intense political and economic turmoil, for some of the most at-risk populations in our country, medical care may soon be out of reach.
In just a few weeks, millions will lose access to Medicaid benefits as federal emergency protections, implemented to keep people from losing coverage during a public health emergency, come to an end. And while many state agencies have been working tirelessly to get ahead of this deadline, there is no doubt some eligible beneficiaries will be lost in a great shuffle of paperwork beginning in mid-April.
Medicaid remains the primary program offering comprehensive health and long-term care coverage to low-income Americans. While income requirements vary by state, recent economic downturns have led to an increase in the number of people eligible for the program. In fact, enrollment grew 17.4 percent for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) between February 2020 and June 2021 – an increase of 12.4 million people. It is estimated that more than 83.6 million people receive Medicaid and CHIP benefits today, a total up from the reported 71 million enrolled in these programs in 2019.
As I consider these staggering numbers, my biggest concerns for the future are for those that require long term services and supports, including long term care and waiver programs that support home- and community-based services for those with developmental and intellectual disabilities, traumatic brain injury, etc. These individuals have difficulty accessing the job market because of medical conditions, physical limitations and/or societal stigmas. No matter your stance on Medicaid expansion in the broader sense, I think we all agree these individuals should not lose access to care and services. With cumbersome application processes that are challenging to navigate, regular renewals and strict eligibility requirements, these marginalized groups struggle to maintain access to benefits even in normal times. After almost two years of uninterrupted coverage – though delivery of services may have been impacted by the pandemic – the loss of provisions put in place to protect people during a public health crisis will result in tremendous hardship for those already at a disadvantage.
At FEI, we specialize in providing technical solutions for local and state agencies administering complex Medicaid waiver programs. Our state partners provide health and human services for targeted waiver populations, including those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, persons with serious mental illness, the elderly and children with disabilities. Our demonstrated success in providing case management solutions and tools for better serving these vulnerable populations is rooted in our team’s intimate understanding of the challenges our partners face and our compassion for those they serve.
Provisions ensuring continuous Medicaid coverage, regardless of potential changes in eligibility, throughout this public health emergency are set to end April 16. Unless there is another 90-day extension, the responsibility for managing the continued enrollment of current Medicaid program members will fall to individual states. And there is the added challenge of many agencies and offices being short-staffed two years into this pandemic. How states will proceed and accommodate for a greater need for Medicaid coming out of this crisis remains to be seen.
Pre-pandemic, regular evaluations of eligibility were common, as member statuses often change based on income or reported disability. As the economy rebounds, and job opportunities are more available, many who relied on Medicaid for coverage for the last two years will likely have more options available to them for healthcare, but rollover to other programs is not automatic and delays could be costly for individuals and families. I applaud the incentives in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to extend Medicaid coverage for our most vulnerable citizens, and I encourage those with responsibility for the effective delivery of health and human services to take advantage of them. We cannot afford to let these opportunities to preserve benefits slip away, and it shouldn’t take a public health emergency to keep them intact. At the end of the day, we have a social obligation to ensure particularly vulnerable waiver populations have barrier-free access to the health and human services they need to thrive.
