West Virginia Watch, News from the States – Over the past year, as the programs returned to pre-pandemic eligibility rules, more than 200,000 West Virginians were removed from the Medicaid or the Child Health Insurance Program, state data shows.
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The vast majority of those disenrollments — 79% — were due to a procedural reason like failing to return a form re-enrolling in the program, according to an analysis of state data by the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University. The remaining 21% of those who lost coverage were determined to no longer meet the eligibility requirements for the programs.
Medicaid is a state and federal program that provides health coverage to low-income West Virginians as well as pregnant women, those with a disability and others. For three years during the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to receive enhanced funding from the federal government, states were prohibited from removing people from the programs, even though they may no longer meet eligibility requirements for the programs.
