The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) reported in March 2024 that 2,066,708 Texas Medicaid beneficiaries were disenrolled through the Medicaid redetermination process after the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE). Those terminated for procedural reasons totaled 1,371,219, or 66.3 percent of the total enrollment. Examples of disenrollment included people who did not understand the process, did not have a mailing address on file, failed to return necessary paperwork, or long wait times on the telephone.
The concern is these individuals still qualify for Texas Medicaid and many have no medical insurance coverage. Another alarming KFF statistic is that 1,346,189 children without a disability represent roughly two thirds of the people disenrolled. Prior to COVID-19 and the PHE, Texas had the highest number of medically uninsured in the nation and these recently disenrolled beneficiaries just exacerbate this serious Texas Medicaid crisis.
Rather than point the fingers or play the blame game, te need to focus on solutions rather than call out stakeholders. The Texas Health and Humans Services Commission (HHSC) increased its staff in anticipation of the surge in reenrollments. They also worked on retention and salary adjustments for staff eligibility advisors and created a multi-pronged communications campaign detailing the rollout of continuous Medicaid coverage during the PHE. HHSC implemented a federally approved waiver allowing managed care organizations to assist in the renewal and reenrollment process. HHSC also developed an Ambassador Program engaging stakeholders to assist Medicaid beneficiaries in understanding the required enrollment procedures. We appreciate those efforts.
Additionally, we thank everyone who worked diligently to help Medicaid recipients become reenrolled in our Texas Medicaid program, including dedicated patient navigators in our Texas hospitals. With that said, we did not achieve the necessary level of reenrollment success when the PHE ended. These startling KFF numbers speak loudly to the crisis we have in our Texas Medicaid program.
We are all in this together and every stakeholder needs to come to the table to assist in developing a plan to reenroll our displaced Medicaid recipients. The health of all Texans depends on our implemented action plans. Let’s convene public, private, legislative, business officials, providers and HHSC personnel to work collaboratively to develop a statewide initiative to reduce these unacceptable disenrollment numbers.
Steve Love is the CEO and president of the DFW Hospital Council, a 90-member group that unites North Texas hospital and industry leaders.
