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Nearly 23K Michiganders have lost Medicaid, another 123,000 remain at risk

two people in medical office
Medical coverage hangs in the balance for 3 million Michiganders on Medicaid whose eligibility is being reassessed over the next year. (Bridge file photo by Chris duMond)
  • Now that the pandemic is over, Medicaid recipients must once again prove their eligibility for coverage
  • The process requires recipients to return paperwork to the state, which many of them aren’t aware of 
  • Among those who received notice in June and July, 70,0000 returned paperwork, and 225K were ‘passively enrolled’ 

As the state of Michigan continues to trim back its Medicaid numbers, 123,744 people stand to lose coverage by the end of the month if they don’t respond to the state’s request for paperwork.

Those are the latest numbers from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, which is reviewing qualifications of more than 3 million people now in Healthy Michigan or other Medicaid plans — assessing their qualifications over twelve months. By May, 2024, qualifications for all Medicaid beneficiaries will have been reviewed.

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Nearly 23,000 Michganders already have lost coverage, a portion of the more than 4 million Americans who have been disenrolled, according to the health care research organization, KFF. That’s based on data from 42 states and the District of Columbia.

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The head of the state’s Medicaid program, Meghan Groen, said she and others are “feeling really good” about their outreach efforts. But just how the numbers stack up to expectations is difficult to say, because the unprecedented growth in Medicaid during COVID — both in Michigan and across the nation — is just now being pared back under a federal mandate to reassess eligibility of the beneficiaries.

someone typing on keyboard
Advocates say it’s crucial that Medicaid enrollees make sure the state knows how to reach them, and that means providing the most up-to-date contact information. (Bridge file photo by Chris duMond)

“This is something we’ve never done before at this scale,” Groen told Bridge Michigan on Thursday. 

Michigan uses a 90-day renewal timeline, meaning that the process for each beneficiary begins two months before an enrollee's renewal date and ends at the close of the enrollee's renewal month. 

In its first two months of a year-long process known as “redetermination,” the state has tried to reach 471,573 beneficiaries, according to the state health department.

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Precise numbers change daily. According to preliminary data provided to Bridge Thursday:

  • Plans have been renewed for 224,757 people, representing the first two months in the 12-month renewal process.
  • Of those whose coverage has been renewed, the state was able to automatically re-enroll 154,423  because of documentation on file that indicated their income eligibility — paperwork, for example, for cash assistance for needy families. 
  • Just more than 70,000 Michiganders have been re-enrolled after submitting paperwork.
  • 22,911 people have lost coverage — that is, they are no longer eligible because of increased income, for example.

Michigan received a reprieve from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services this summer, when CMS allowed states to use other documentation to determine beneficiaries’ eligibility and gave the states another month to find beneficiaries. CMS also is allowing private insurers to do outreach as well, Groen noted. 

Still, she acknowledged the difficulty in tracking down beneficiaries and their paperwork.

“There will be a lot of people disenrolled if they don’t get their packets back,” she said.

The state last month unveiled a dashboard, which will be updated every month, so the public can track its efforts.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services offers these tips and services to help Medicaid beneficiaries keep their coverage if eligible:

  • Be sure to fill out and return your renewal packet by its due date, even if you feel you have lost eligibility. Other members of the household — a child, for example — may still be eligible.
  • Find more information about the process of eligibility review and about alternate options to Medicaid at two new websites by MDHHS and DIFS to provide information about alternative health insurance options.
  • Update address, phone number and email addresses at www.michigan.gov/MIBridges or through a local MDHHS office. Those without an online account for MI Bridges can set one up through www.michigan.gov/MIBridges or with help from a community center  assisting in the process.
  • For more information about Medicaid eligibility renewals, visit Michigan.gov/2023BenefitChanges. For more information about coverage options for those losing Medicaid coverage, visit Michigan.gov/StayCovered or call the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services at 877-999-6442, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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