With the continuous Medicaid eligibility that marked the COVID-19 pandemic coming to an end on April 1 and roughly one-third of the 3.6 million Pennsylvanians enrolled in Medicaid thought to be in jeopardy of losing their coverage, health care advocates are asking the state to invest in more staff to help current participants submit the paperwork needed to retain their coverage as part of what has become known as “Medicaid unwinding.”

In a letter signed by representatives of the Pennsylvania Health Law Project, the Pennsylvania Health Access Network, the Pennsylvania Partnership for Children, and others, advocates noted that the county assistance offices that will play a major role in this process are already understaffed and need more help if deserving Pennsylvanians are to avoid falling through the Medicaid eligibility cracks.  The state has acknowledged the staffing problems at its county assistance offices.

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The advocates also have asked the state to publish more information about Medicaid eligibility redetermination and to extend Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) eligibility for children for another year.

A troubled Medicaid unwinding effort would be a troubling development for Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals because those hospitals care for especially large numbers of low-income and Medicaid-covered patients and could face the possibility of finding themselves serving significantly more uninsured and underinsured patients than they already do – without reimbursement for that care.

Learn more about the challenges inherent in the Medicaid eligibility redetermination effort and what the advocates seek from the state in the WESA-FM radio article “With major Medicaid changes ahead, advocates want to see increased staffing for assistance offices.”