In response to the end of pandemic restrictions, many states have begun the process of disenrolling people from Medicaid rolls who they determine are ineligible or haven’t completed the renewal process. Florida’s numbers are staggering, accounting for 300k of the nation’s roughly 1.35 million disenrollees. Our total more than doubles Arizona’s, the state with the next highest number.
Many of these disenrollments are occurring not because the state has determined ineligibility, but because the renewal process has not been completed. Incomplete paperwork, or the state potentially having out of date contact information for a recipient, should not cost low income Floridians their access to health care.
In response to this concerning start to the process, House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell (D- Tampa) and Policy Chair Representative Kelly Skidmore (D- Boca Raton), who also serves as the ranking Democratic member of the Health and Human Services Committee, sent a letter asking for a pause to evaluate better ways to prevent unnecessary removals. The letter was sent to Governor DeSantis, DCF Secretary Shevaun Harris, and AHCA Secretary Jason Weida.
“Considering that the stakes of success or failure are literally the health and potentially lives of thousands of Floridians, we urge you to pause the unwinding in order to evaluate early impacts and identify process gaps,” the letter states. “Perhaps most troubling, of the 302,556 Floridians that have lost their Medicaid coverage, 65.2% (197,367) have been disenrolled due to bureaucratic barriers and administrative red tape without actually being determined ineligible.” (See attachment for the full letter.)
“This process has resulted in mistaken disenrollments that have left too many vulnerable Floridians without coverage. We are asking that the state pause to reevaluate the process so that people do not lose health care simply because of paperwork errors. It’s the state’s duty to at the very least minimize the risk of harm. There’s no rush, we can do this right and do it on time,” said Representative Skidmore.
Leader Fentrice Driskell added, “Health care coverage is essential to ensuring all Floridians have the freedom to be healthy, prosperous, and safe. The Medicaid unwinding process is both important and challenging; if the state does not get it right then hundreds of thousands of children and low-income parents may needlessly lose their access to health care. There is absolutely no need to rush this, and Florida should slow down and make certain we’re doing the best we can for the people. The state should temporarily pause the Medicaid unwinding to evaluate and improve Florida’s approach in order to get it right and protect low income Floridians.”
