At least 21 million people have been disenrolled from Medicaid since states began eligibility redeterminations in 2023.
Disabled people are losing benefits with little or no notice, getting bad advice when they call for information, and facing major disruptions in care while they wait for issues to be sorted out.Jacqueline Saa has a genetic condition that leaves her unable to stand and walk on her own or hold a job. Every weekday for four years, Saa, 43, has relied on a home health aide to help her cook, bathe and dress, go to the doctor, pick up medications, and accomplish other daily tasks.
Medicaid’s home and community-based services are designed to help people like Saa, who have disabilities and need help with everyday activities, stay out of a nursing facility. But people are losing benefits with little or no notice, getting bad advice when they call for information, and facing major disruptions in care while they wait for the issue to get sorted out, according to attorneys and advocates who are hearing from patients..
The unwinding, as it’s known, is an immense undertaking, Edwards said, and some states did not take extra steps to set up a special telephone line for those with disabilities, for example, so people could renew their coverage or contact a case manager.that they must give people with disabilities the help they need to benefit from the program, including specialized communications for people who are deaf or blind.
“They just cut off the benefits without a call, without a letter or anything stating that the benefits would be terminating,” Pellegrin said. Her sister’s home health aide, whom she had used every day for nearly eight years, stopped service for 12 days. “If I’m getting everything else in the mail,” she said, “it seems weird that after 13 times I wouldn’t have received one of them.”
“It may be very difficult for that person who lost that attendant to find another attendant,” Anstee said, because of workforce shortages for attendants and nurses and high demand.Daniel Tsai, a deputy administrator at CMS, said the agency is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities receiving home health services “can renew their Medicaid coverage with as little red tape as possible.”this year for states to monitor Medicaid home health services.
The state should presume such people are still eligible and preserve their coverage, Harmatz said, because income and assets for most beneficiaries are not going to increase significantly and their conditions are not likely to improve.
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