While COVID-19 came with few silver linings, it did push the U.S. federal government to expand social services like Medicaid for millions of Americans. However, that policy is now coming to an end.
The COVID Public Health Emergency (PHE) has expired, along with the Medicaid enrollment provision under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which stipulated that state Medicaid programs must keep people continuously enrolled each year until the PHE is over. Traditionally, Medicaid programs redetermine eligibility each year, checking enrollees’ current household incomes against the federal poverty line before members can renew their plan.
