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Nearly 90,000 children eliminated from Medicaid in Colorado

(Courtesy/Colorado News Connections)

THOSE MINORS LOST THEIR MEDICAL COVERAGE IN COLORADO

Newsroom El Comercio de Colorado

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More than four million children in the U.S. lost their health insurance after automatic Medicaid coverage renewals enacted during the COVID public health emergency ended. This is revealed by a new report from Georgetown University, which also shows that Colorado ranks 13th in the nation for the number of children excluded from Medicaid.

In Colorado, around 86,000 children have lost their Medicaid coverage. Toni Sarge, from the Colorado Children’s Campaign, says that having access to continuous medical coverage is important for everyone, but it’s crucial for children. “Children from birth to six years old are supposed to have 15 routine visits to the doctor’s office, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics,” said Sarge.

“This expert continues, ‘So, if [the children] lost insurance and missed even one appointment, that could mean they missed an important vaccine or didn’t receive care for an injury.’ Two-thirds of Colorado residents who lost their medical coverage were still eligible by the time they were removed from Medicaid. These individuals stopped receiving coverage due to administrative errors.

Efforts by HCPF

The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) began an effort in mid-2023 to explain to Health First Colorado and CHP+ beneficiaries that their coverage would not be automatically renewed as it was during the pandemic. They reached out to these beneficiaries to let them know they needed to provide information to renew their benefits.

A large number of these individuals did not renew. An additional effort by HCPF aims to help eligible exclusions regain their benefits. Colorado is one of eight states that now have fewer enrolled children compared to beneficiaries before the pandemic. “The responsibility lies with the governors who are responsible for executing Medicaid programs,” said Joan Alker, from Georgetown University.

Change of direction

“The world was not a perfect place before the pandemic. We had uninsured children who were eligible for Medicaid or CHIP but were not enrolled, in part due to these bureaucratic barriers. So, that’s not the metric states should be using. If they use it, they’re actually below where they were, and that’s really cause for concern,” argued Alker.

Sarge adds that something as simple as a change of address could have led to documents not reaching parents. “So, the children would go to medical appointments and then be told they had no coverage. And their parents had no idea why they wouldn’t have been covered because they never received documentation telling them otherwise,” Sarge further insisted.

Appeal your case

If you or a family member was excluded from Medicaid programs in Colorado, you can appeal using the guide prepared by the Colorado Center on Law and Policy. Available in Spanish.

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