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| Last year, Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy Center for Children and Families estimated that as many as 6.7 million children could experience periods of uninsuredness as a result of insurance rollbacks. |
Many North Carolina Medicaid participants are now seeking redetermination, and experts are concerned about the number of North Carolina children who will lose health coverage.
Experts believe children are most at risk of losing coverage during cancellation, despite being eligible.
Adam Shearing, a research professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy Center for Children and Families, said parents should be aware of their own qualifications. He said that one of the reasons may be that people confuse qualifications for the entire family.
“Children can typically qualify for either the Children’s Health Insurance Program or Medicaid up to a much higher income level than their parents,” Shearing said. “So while parents may lose coverage, they should not think that their child will lose coverage or that their child will have to change their coverage.”
Whatever the reason, experts say more children are at risk of becoming uninsured every day.
As of August, about 24,000 children lost insurance, according to the Georgetown Center for Children and Families.
Some children who will need medical care this year may not realize they don’t have insurance until they go to the doctor.
Shearing said one of the big ways to prevent that from happening is to make sure your information is up to date and pay attention to communications from the state.
“The main message is that parents need to keep a close eye on what’s going on with them and make sure they’re communicating all the information, especially about what’s going on with Medicaid. ” said Shearing.
According to KFF data, some children are removed from Medicaid enrollment due to simple mistakes. Nationwide, approximately 800,000 children lost coverage during the policy cancellation.
