Some Alaskans lose Medicaid coverage, eligibility paused, may still qualify

The Alaska Division of Public Assistance has temporarily halted the practice of dropping people from Medicaid for paperwork-related issues. This decision came after thousands of low-income Alaskans, including families with children, lost their health coverage, despite still being eligible for it. As a result, healthcare providers have noticed an increase in uninsured patients and have observed a potential delay in crucial healthcare treatments due to the loss of coverage. The state resumed annual eligibility reviews earlier this summer, which had been paused during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, only a third of Alaskans on Medicaid have been deemed eligible and renewed in the program so far.

Within the past two months, nearly 14,000 people, or close to 40% of those up for review, were dropped from Medicaid for procedural reasons, such as failing to respond to mail from the Division of Public Assistance requesting verification of eligibility. Some families may have missed this correspondence because the state did not have their updated address on file, or the letters were mistakenly assumed to be junk mail. The state is uncertain about the exact reasons behind the high number of procedural disenrollments. To address this issue, the state will now provide families with an additional 30 days to respond to requests for income verification and other information. Furthermore, the state aims to verify eligibility without the need for additional paperwork. Applications are being reopened, and the state is working on implementing a system to send text messages to individuals missing required information.

The pause in dropping individuals for paperwork-related reasons seeks to reduce the number of Medicaid recipients who lose their coverage. Medicaid recipients, including low-income adults, children, pregnant women, older adults, and people with disabilities, have the right to a fair hearing if they believe they are wrongly dropped from the program. This hearing can be requested in person, by phone, or in writing within 30 days of receiving notice. The provision in the federal health emergency allowed Alaskans to retain Medicaid coverage for the past two years without the need for annual paperwork, even if their income increased to a point where they would no longer qualify. Although one in three Alaskans were enrolled in the state’s Medicaid programs prior to the renewal process, many more could lose their coverage in the coming months.

As a result of this change, healthcare providers such as the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center have noticed an increase in patients seeking assistance with health insurance and longer waiting times for the state’s Medicaid helpline. The clinic has a sliding-scale fee for uninsured or underinsured Alaskans, which has not seen a proportional increase in patients since the loss of Medicaid coverage. This suggests that some individuals may be avoiding seeking medical care due to the lack of knowledge about the sliding-scale fee.

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