Georgia Disability Lawyer BlogGEORGIA MEDICAID ENROLLEES LOSE COVERAGE DUE TO PROGRAM ERRORS
During the period of the public health emergency of COVID-19, states were required to keep individuals on Medicaid rolls without annual reviews. In May of this year, the Biden administration removed the public health emergency. Now states have from April 2023 to June 2024 to requalify for Medicaid. This period is referred to as Medicaid Unwinding. Nationally, 93 million Americans were on Medicaid during the pandemic. In Georgia 2.7 million adults and children receive Medicaid.
On August 30th, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid alerted state that they may be incorrectly disenrolling participants – mostly children – from Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Two programming errors occurred during this period of unwinding. First, states evaluated Medicaid eligiblity per household as a whole rather than separately by children and adults. Second, states that were awaiting replies to questions from one household member would disqualify the whole household. These procedures violate Medicaid and CHIP regulations.
Georgia is one of ten states that have not fully expanded Medicaid. Georgia began a limited Medicaid expansion in July 2023. Adults who earn less than $14,600 a year will now clear the income threshold to apply for a Medicaid insurance card. However, applicants must complete 80 hours of work, job training or qualifying activity each month to keep their coverage. For those awaiting a decision on Social Security disabilty, they will not be eligible because the work requirements would eliminate disability eligibility. Georgia is the only state with a work requirement for Medicaid eligiblity.