Louisiana has removed 197,000 people from Medicaid over five months

By Julie O’Donoghue
Contributing Writer

(lailluminator.com) — Louisiana removed 197,000 people from its Medicaid rolls over a five-month period from June to October, as it complies with renewed federal standards for the government-backed insurance.

About a quarter of the people dropped, or 47,000, are children. Two-thirds of the individuals cut have lost their health insurance for “procedural reasons,” including not filling out the appropriate paperwork.

Louisiana is also experiencing a significant amount of “churn” as it takes part in the nationwide Medicaid disenrollment process. Initially, Louisiana dropped far more people, 258,000 individuals, from the Medicaid rolls, but 61,000 have already been allowed to rejoin the program. They still met the requirements despite being cut at first.

Medicaid is a publicly-funded health insurance for low-income families and people with disabilities. Members must meet income requirements, which vary depending on their age and health status, to join the program. It’s funded through a mix of federal and state money.

For three years during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government prevented states from removing individuals from Medicaid, even if they no longer qualified for the benefit. This caused Medicaid rolls in several states to swell. In Louisiana alone, an additional 450,000 people were brought into the program.

Those pandemic protections ended in April, leading to the massive drop in enrollment. Louisiana started culling its rolls on a monthly basis in June and has about seven months left in a year-long review process.

Earlier this year, the state health department estimated only 222,400 people would be dropped from Medicaid during the year review, but lawmakers believe Louisiana is on track to cut far more. With seven months of culling left, it has already shed nearly 90 percent of the originally projected reduction.

Rep. Tony Bacala, R-Prairieville, said the higher-than-anticipated losses from Medicaid should save the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) money.

Gov. John Bel Edwards balked when legislators tried to reduce the state health budget by $100 million earlier this year, but Bacala said that cut now looks justified given the Medicaid reductions so far.

“LDH does not need the money they said they were going to need,” Bacala said during a budget meeting last month. “I would like some reckoning.

This article originally published in the December 11, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.