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An Obamacare sign is seen outside a leading insurance agency that offers plans under the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) on January 28, 2021 in Miami, Florida.
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Millions of people in the US are at risk of losing Medicaid this year when coverage protections put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic end in April.
To make it easier for these individuals to transition to other coverage, the Department of Health and Human Services has announced a special enrollment period for Obamacare.
People who lose Medicaid coverage between March 31 and July 31, 2024 can sign up for Obamacare outside the normal enrollment period at healthcare.gov if they live in a state served by the federal market, according to new HHS guidelines.
Most states, 33 in total, use healthcare.gov as their insurance marketplace. The 17 states that operate their own marketplaces may impose a special enrollment period, but are not required to do so.
Individuals who lose Medicaid will not have to submit any additional paperwork to shop for Obamacare. The app will simply ask them if they have lost Medicaid coverage.
After submitting an application, consumers have 60 days to choose a health insurance plan. Once they choose a new plan, coverage begins on the first day of the following month.
Normally, consumers must provide documentation of a life change to apply for health insurance outside of the open enrollment period, but HHS is simplifying the process for those who lose Medicaid.
Medicaid enrollment increased during the pandemic after Congress essentially prohibited state governments from excluding people from the program for the duration of the public health emergency.
Medicaid enrollment rose 28% as of February 2020 to nearly 84 million people since September, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The congress has passed December federal spending law which separated the protection of Medicaid coverage from public health emergencies. States can begin cutting coverage for people in April if they no longer meet eligibility criteria or fail to respond to requests for information.
HHS estimated that 15 million people will lose Medicaid coverage when pandemic protections end. Eight million of them will have to switch to other forms of coverage, according to HHS estimates. But 6.8 million will lose Medicaid even though they are still eligible for the program, according to HHS.
States are required to make a good faith effort to contact an individual whose eligibility is being verified through more than one method of communication.
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