First Focus on Children sent the following letter to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure asking them to do everything within their authority to protect children from losing Medicaid or CHIP coverage.
Excerpt from the letter:
As you know, as of April 1, 2023, states can begin to “unwind” COVID-19 era Medicaid coverage protections and disenroll children and families, from Medicaid and CHIP, who no longer qualify for or do not renew their coverage. Estimates show that 6.7 million children – disproportionately children of color – could lose their coverage during the unwinding. Even short gaps in a child’s health coverage can significantly impact their health and disrupt their timely access to necessary physical and behavioral health services. Therefore, it is absolutely critical that the federal government do all that it can to hold states accountable for mitigating children’s coverage losses.