At least two million low-income children have lost health insurance since the end of a federal policy that guaranteed coverage through Medicaid earlier in the Covid-19 pandemic, according to new analyses by researchers at the Georgetown Center for Children and Families and KFF, a health policy research organization. The figures, which are likely a significant undercount, represent one of the fastest and most dramatic ruptures in the American safety net since Medicaid went into law in 1965, experts say. Many of the children were qualified for federal assistance but lost it because of bureaucratic mistakes, such as missing paperwork or errors by state officials. It is not clear how many of these children have found new coverage in the more than seven months since the Medicaid rolls began shrinking, but at least one million are likely to still be uninsured, said Joan Alker, the executive director of the Georgetown center and a research professor at the university’s McCourt School of Public Policy. The trend is accelerating: In the coming weeks, she said, new state numbers will probably show that three million children have lost coverage.

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Persons: Joan Alker Organizations: Georgetown Center for Children, university’s, School of Public Policy Locations: Georgetown