According to HHS, nine states are responsible for 60 percent of children’s coverage losses between March and September.
HHS wants states with the highest rates of children dropped from Medicaid to use certain federal rules that make it easier to get families back on coverage.
In letters sent Monday to the governors of Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Dakota and Texas, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra urged the states to take up more of options CMS has offered to ensure coverage. The options include allowing states to use enrollee information they have to auto-renew coverage.
HHS also issued new guidance for states Monday, including an option to give kids an additional 12 months to get on the rolls. That option is available through 2024, CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure told reporters.
Becerra also asked the states to remove barriers to Children’s Health Insurance Program enrollment for children no longer eligible for Medicaid, reduce call center times for families and expand their Medicaid programs if they haven’t already.
Conservatives are re-directing and outright pocketing federal funds wherever possible. They employ privately held interests and invent money-hiding bureaucratic schemes to provide bullshit services.
I live in Texas where this has been the case for decades. State services here are effectively non-existent because of it, yet we receive quite a bit of federal funds. Where does it all go? Into our governor’s friends’ pockets (and thus to him as well).
If the feds want services to actually reach red state residents, they will need to exclude the state entirely from the process. Period.
A conservative politician is simply not capable of making a choice that benefits others. Conservatives will never permit their state social support systems to function effectively, as long as they have any say in it.