ATLANTA — New data released from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Monday shows Georgia ranks third in the nation for the total number of children who have been dropped from Medicaid.
"The data below provides critical insight into the impact of state policy and operational choices to take up strategies and flexibilities offered by the Department to keep eligible individuals, particularly children and youth, enrolled in state Medicaid and CHIP programs," the HHS wrote in a news release.
According to the report, since March 2023, approximately 149,080 children in Georgia were dropped from the program, which is the third most in the U.S. The data also shows since March 2023, Georgia has seen a -9 % decline in the total number of children being enrolled in the program.
Dr. Hugo Scornik, a pediatrician based in Conyers, said he's seen more sick children who are coming into his office to get treated and they find out while they're there that they're no longer covered by Medicaid.
"It's very important for children to be covered by health insurance. A lot of parents don't have the out-of-pocket costs that it takes to get health care," he explained. "It's flu season. They may run a fever and need to see the doctor. It's just important to have health insurance, and Medicaid is the health care insurance for the majority of children in Georgia. So, if they're being dropped for procedural reasons, that's concerning.”
Scornik is also the former president of the Georgia Chapter of the American Academics of Pediatrics.
“We've known for about a year that this Medicaid retirement redetermination has been happening. So we've been worried that it wouldn't go well. It's a little concerning that so many kids are being dropped," he added.
In a letter to Gov. Brian Kemp, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra wrote in part, "Because all children deserve to have access to comprehensive health coverage, I urge you to ensure that no child in your state who still meets eligibility criteria for Medicaid or CHIP loses their health coverage due to “red tape” or other avoidable reasons as all states “unwind” from the Medicaid continuous enrollment provision that was in place during much of the COVID-19 public health emergency."
You can read Becerra's full letter to Kemp online here.
Leah Chan with the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute (GBPI) said that Georgia is likely one of the worst states due to it not having expanded Medicaid to adults with lower incomes.
"That means that about 69% of our Medicaid and PeachCare population are children. So, there's just more children in the system. As more pressure is put on that infrastructure, it just creates more room for error. So it's it just opened the opportunity for these eligible children to lose coverage.”
Chan said most of these children are likely still eligible but lost coverage due to procedural reasons.
"Paperwork maybe didn't make it to the right address or the form was filled out incorrectly. There is really no reason that eligible children should be losing coverage because of administrative red tape," she said.
The report was released the same day Georgia announced a $54 million one-time investment of federal funds that Chan said could help alleviate the issue.
"Caseworkers are really overwhelmed with the number of cases they’re having to process, so they want to provide some extra staffing to support caseworkers. This is a really important investment at a critical time but we also know that it’s not enough," she said.
In response to Becerra's letter, on Monday a spokesperson for Kemp's office wrote:
"We are following the process initiated and mandated by the Biden-Harris administration, which has once again missed an opportunity to urge families to fill out their paperwork. Georgia has taken considerable action to streamline processes; utilize innovations, Georgia-centric solutions, and waivers to benefit Medicaid recipients; and just today announced the use of $54 million to further that work as we partner with community-level stakeholders and medical service providers. Rather than diminish the important work being done by dedicated and tireless caseworkers and pit states against one another, we hope Secretary Barrera joins us in our efforts to encourage families who are going through this federally initiated process to complete the paperwork required by the same federal process to remain covered."
Chan said there’s more the state can do to help prevent children from losing this coverage.
"Other southern states like North Carolina and Kentucky have actually paused all renewals for children for a full year to give them a chance to work through their adult caseload and the renewals for their adults so that the children don’t get lost in the shuffle," she added.
11Alive also reached back out to the state to see if it would consider extending the deadline to file paperwork as the federal government suggested and are waiting to hear back.
In the meantime, Atlanta Legal Aid said it is currently working with families affected, and that any in need of help, should reach out to their agency.