Nearly 100,000 Mississippians have been kicked off Medicaid coverage since June

The Mississippi Division of Medicaid dropped 7,448 people from its coverage in November.

The latest numbers cap six months of disenrollments. In total, nearly 100,000 Mississippians have lost Medicaid coverage since June, when state Medicaid divisions across the country started reviewing their rolls for the first time in three years in a process called “unwinding” after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most of those people were not dropped because they were found to be ineligible — the majority of the people dropped from coverage have been due to paperwork issues, called “procedural” disenrollments. 

Over half of those who have been dropped to date have been children. 

Federal regulations that prevented Medicaid divisions from dropping beneficiaries during the pandemic ended this spring. Now, the state Medicaid agencies’ reviews have resulted in millions of people losing health coverage.

Mississippi’s Medicaid division dropped 29,460 people in June, 22,507 people in July, 16,659 people in August, 12,828 people in September and 8,674 people in October. 

It also appears that the majority of the beneficiaries dropped in October were children — Mississippi Medicaid’s enrollment reports show that 6,776 children were disenrolled between October and November.

Since June, more than 61,000 kids in Mississippi have been dropped from Medicaid's rolls. Federal research shows that kids are most at risk of losing benefits during unwinding. 

The November numbers also show that while the agency appears to be slowly improving its procedural disenrollment rate — the percentage of people kicked off coverage has crept down a few points each month — the majority are still due to paperwork issues. 

Of the 7,448 people dropped in November, 67% were procedural. The state’s overall procedural disenrollment rate thus far hovers at 75%, close to the national average of 71%, according to KFF. 

Experts following unwinding have taken issue with states' high procedural disenrollment rates because it could mean a great number of people being dropped are still eligible for Medicaid. 

The Mississippi Division of Medicaid’s latest numbers also show that despite making a small dent in its sizable backlog of uncompleted reviews in October, the backlog increased again for November. 

July saw 15,574 incomplete reviews, bringing the state’s total to 19,402. Then the total number of incomplete reviews went up to 29,788 in August and 45,989 in September, before slightly decreasing to 42,931 in October. 

November data shows backlogs are up again to 47,272. 

At least 12,573,000 Medicaid beneficiaries have been disenrolled nationally as of Dec. 13, according to KFF. The organization predicts up to 24 million people could lose coverage during unwinding. 

As unwinding continues, Mississippi is poised to disenroll thousands more, all during a statewide health care crisis. One report puts nearly half of rural hospitals at risk of closure. Hospitals are financially strapped post-pandemic, largely due to high rates of uncompensated care, or money lost caring for patients who are uninsured.

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