Mr. Tsai told reporters in a press briefing Wednesday that the problem was “a very specific systems glitch that we think has tremendous implications for eligible kids and families maintaining coverage.”Many states are conducting what are known as “ex parte” renewals, or automatic checks that rely on databases, such as state wage records, to determine whether people are still eligible for Medicaid coverage.
States are required to vet the eligibility of recipients individually.
Children may have been disproportionately punished by this practice, officials said on Wednesday.
The administration ordered states that identify this error to fix their eligibility systems, to pause removals and to reinstate those who had been affected by the mistakes.
The letter amounted to one of the most confrontational actions that federal officials have taken since the start of the unwinding, which has led to over 5.5 million people losing coverage, according to state data analyzed by KFF, a health policy research organization.
Persons:
Tsai, KFF