Uninsured Kids and the Pandemic

The formal end of the pandemic could swell the ranks of uninsured children by 6 million or more as temporary reforms to Medicaid are lifted. Experts say, gaps in coverage could limit access to needed care and widen health disparities, by hitting lower-income families and children of color the hardest. Requiring states keep Medicaid beneficiaries enrolled during the public health emergency in order to get more federal funding -- is credited with preventing a spike in uninsured adults and kids during the crisis. Children are the biggest eligibility group in Medicaid, especially in the 12 states that haven’t expanded their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act. The lifting of the public health emergency, which was just extended to July 15, will lead states to determine whether their Medicaid enrollees are still eligible for coverage — a complicated process that could result in millions of Americans being removed from the program. Advocates are calling for Congress to require continuous Medicaid coverage, the way the House did when it passed the sweeping social policy package that stalled in the Senate over cost concerns.