Post-Pandemic Medicaid Changes Pose a Challenge for States | OAS Episode 172

Medicaid agencies and enrollees around the country will face big changes in the new year. The current federal public health emergency for COVID-19 has resulted in about a 25% increase in people enrolled in Medicaid. Under the emergency declaration, Medicaid agencies have not reviewed the eligibility of people in the program since early 2020. Once that emergency declaration expires, probably in early 2023, experts expect millions of current enrollees will no longer be eligible. To help understand what’s coming, we sat down with Andrea Maresca and Jane Longo of Health Management Associates. Both have deep expertise in Medicaid policy at the federal and state level. Maresca discussed the details of the changes at the federal level, the increase in the number of enrollee and how it affected care for people in the Medicaid program. Longo explained how state Medicaid agencies responded to the increase in clients, how state legislatures are helping to manage the coming changes and the scale of the challenge facing Medicaid agencies around the nation.

NCSL Podcasts · Andrea Maresca, Jane Longo, Ed Smith