NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — More than 30,000 Tennesseans have been dropped from Medicaid in just one month's time after the state began re-verifying enrollee eligibility for the first time in three years.
Thousands more could lose health insurance because they just don't know about the renewal process.
During the pandemic, the federal government temporarily paused the required annual renewal process for Medicaid coverage. Well, now the requirement has resumed.
According to the TennCare unwinding reports for the month of April, of the more than 30,000 people who have lost their health insurance, over 23,000 either failed to return their renewal packet or additional information that was requested.
Over 7,300 people lost coverage because they were no longer eligible for the program. Health officials say because TennCare serves a more vulnerable group, enrollees may have trouble completing the renewal process on their own, miss the notices altogether, or forget about it.
Over 80,000 TennCare Members were due for renewal in April. Reports say around 25,000 were automatically renewed while about 19,000 responded to TennCare communication and were approved for continued coverage.
Earlier this year TennCare officials announced that they anticipate around 300,000 Tennesseans would lose their Medicaid coverage once the renewal process continued.
Medicaid officials encourage everyone who's able to create a TennCare Connect account to keep up with the status of your coverage even if you don't think you're up for renewal. Anyone who feels like they're unnecessarily dropped or experiencing issues should file an appeal.
