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Millions could lose health insurance when COVID emergency ends

Donna Weiner
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Up to 14.2 million Americans could lose health insurance when the federal government ends the COVID-19 emergency declaration, the Kaiser Family Foundation said.

The Kaiser Family Foundation found that somewhere between 5.3 million and 14.2 million would lose insurance. Currently, the federal government’s public health emergency is slated to end in mid-July 2022. The federal government, however, has said it would give a 60-day notice before expiring the provision.

The KFF noted there was a 25% increase in the number of Medicaid enrollees during the pandemic. Medicaid is the joint federal and state program that provides low-income families with health insurance.

Children accounted for nearly 42% of the additional Medicaid enrollees, KFF said.

During the pandemic, states received funds to keep people on Medicaid even if they no longer met eligibility requirements.

Out of nearly 22 million additional Medicaid enrollees, it’s estimated that 18.7 million was due to the maintenance of eligibility provision. The other 3.5 million was due to expected baseline growth.