The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) implemented a continuous coverage requirement in Medicaid, preventing states from disenrolling those enrolled in Medicaid regardless of changes that could make someone ineligible for coverage (like change in income, for example). This helped provide vital health coverage for millions of people during the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE).
However, in April 2023, the continuous coverage requirement ended. Thus, states restarted their Medicaid eligibility redetermination procedures for nearly 95 million Medicaid enrollees. The process of redeterminations for enrollees post continuous coverage requirement is commonly known as the Medicaid “unwinding.”
Compared to the understanding of those reenrolled in Medicaid during the unwinding, less is known about those who transitioned off the Medicaid program – people who, during the resumed redetermination process, were not re-enrolled and instead transitioned off of Medicaid.
This brief aimed to understand those transitions, including the share of those who transitioned off of Medicaid to other sources of coverage or became uninsured, and the factors (e.g., age, income, employment, race/ethnicity, etc.) associated with various transition types (e.g., transition off of Medicaid, off to other source of coverage, off to uninsurance, etc.).
Using data from the 2024 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC), some key findings of this study include:
- Of those with Medicaid in 2023, 94.2% remained on Medicaid while 5.8% transitioned off Medicaid
- Children (age 0-18) and older adults (age 45+) were less likely to transition off Medicaid
- Of those who transitioned off Medicaid, 55.8% transitioned to other coverage; 44.2% became uninsured
Find the rest of our findings, and a discussion of them, in the full brief here.
To learn more, check out SHADAC’s other products on the Medicaid unwinding.