Florida’s approach to the Medicaid unwinding process could seriously harm hundreds of thousands of low-income beneficiaries, according to a report released on December 1, 2023, by researchers at the Milken Institute SPH.
The analysis sheds light on a class action lawsuit in the Florida Federal District Court, held in Jacksonville on Tuesday, December 5, 2023, for beneficiaries who lost health insurance due to the Medicaid unwinding process. The report adds to evidence suggesting that many of those who lost coverage are still eligible for Medicaid but could not comply with burdensome or incomprehensible paperwork requirements.
“By spring of 2024, more than a quarter of a million Floridians were uninsured due to paperwork barriers they faced in the state’s unwinding process,” said lead author Leighton Ku, health policy and management professor at the Milken Institute SPH. “This is equivalent to the total population of St. Petersburg, Florida.” More than 100,000 women and 80,000 children also lost their insurance, he said.
The report also says the harm of losing health coverage will fall disproportionately on Latino and Black Floridians but also a sizable number of White residents. Without health coverage, these low-income people in Florida could lose access to care and become sicker. Ku explains that “Thousands could end up requiring emergency medical care or hospitalization or even die because they lacked access to better health care.”
The report, published in the Dec 1, 2023, Forefront section of the journal Health Affairs, examines the population health effects of Florida’s unwinding process.
While the new research focuses on Florida, the team says there are broader implications for other states. Of the more than 11 million beneficiaries who have lost Medicaid nationwide as of November 2023, more than 70% lost their coverage due to insurmountable paperwork, the authors say.