Too Many Of My Patients Are Losing Their Health Insurance, And Dont Even Know It

For parents, nothing causes more stress and anxiety than when their child is sick. Between the fear of what might happen, knowing where to get treatment, and losing my job, it quickly became unbearable. It's stress enough without worrying about how much the treatment will cost.

However, many families in our area are worried about this situation.

Health insurance is designed to give families peace of mind that they can get care without going bankrupt. But as a pediatrician in Philadelphia, I see many families struggling with financial hardship and medical debt. In fact, fear of these costs unfortunately causes many families to delay seeking care or receiving treatment.

In 2020, as the pandemic began, the federal government sought to ease these concerns for our most vulnerable families and children through the Families First Response Act, which required state Medicaid programs to protect communities during the Covid-19 pandemic. 19. 19. 19 continues to warrant a pandemic. Health emergencies to receive additional funding from the federal government. This policy guarantees continued Medicaid coverage for eligible families for three years and helps reduce the national coverage rate of uninsured children from 6.4 percent in 2020 to 4.2 percent in early 2023.

Unfortunately, those days are over.

They have begun to implement many of the policies enacted during the Covid-19 pandemic, including the continued Medicaid enrollment practice that ended in March of this year. In Pennsylvania, Medicaid enrollees must apply for new coverage each year.

About 15 million people across the country are expected to lose their Medicaid coverage this year. In Pennsylvania, about 185,000 people have lost insurance coverage since recidivism, and I expect that number to continue to rise.

» Read more: Hundreds of thousands of people will have to reapply for Medicaid in the Philadelphia area Here's a first look at how many people could lose insurance coverage.

As a provider, this worries me greatly. What worries me most, however, is that the vast majority of people who have recently left Medicaid do not lose coverage because their income now exceeds the limits. In contrast, three-quarters of registrations nationwide were at least partially due to so-called "process" reasons, such as a user's old contact information or failure to complete a new application.

But after years of continuing to apply, many families don't even realize they need to reapply. In fact, most Medicaid enrollees surveyed by the Kaiser Family Foundation were unaware that states were allowed to disenroll beneficiaries.

I have personally seen this in my practice. I often see families who discover they have lost their insurance coverage come to their appointment only to be in the office with their sick child.

Fortunately, Pennsylvania's Medicaid loss system is lower than the national average, but the figure is still an impressive 44 percent, especially for the thousands of people who lost coverage and are still eligible. As a pediatrician, I am deeply concerned that more than a quarter of abortions in Pennsylvania involve children.

I believe that there is no child that should not be insured and certainly not for simple bureaucratic reasons. However, many of our findings regarding access to health care will change as children across the country continue to be excluded from the Medicaid program. As a result, the federal government has required some states to end the withdrawal process, while other states have chosen to do so voluntarily.

I believe that there is no child who does not have insurance.

Postponing recall procedures is the first step state leaders can take until a better system is in place to protect families in Pennsylvania. More broadly, this disaster highlights the need to modernize and streamline processes to support families and avoid unnecessary disruptions in service coverage.

If you or a family member is covered by Pennsylvania Medicaid, check your renewal date and if you are eligible, reapply through the Pennsylvania COMPASS tool or call the office at 866-550-4355.

Medicaid is meant to be a safety net to protect those who need it most. We must focus on making it easier for children and their families to be protected and stay protected.

Jeremy Jones is a pediatrician practicing in Philadelphia.

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