California Removes 850,000 People From Health Care Plan

The nationwide “disenrollment,” or “unwinding,” process that began last year has seen Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollment in the Golden State fall from around 14.3 million to just over 13.4 million over the 18 months leading up to October 2024, according to KFF, a health policy research nonprofit.The change in California’s enrollment rate (6 percent) is less drastic than that seen in other similarly populous states such as Florida and Texas.

KFF research shows that its overall disenrollment rate—the number of those who were unable to renew coverage after being disenrolled—of 19 percent, sits below the national average of 31 percent.

However, the high figure still raises concerns about the health care of nearly 1 million Californians.

Studies have also found that many disenrollments occurred not due to a lack of eligibility, but rather confusion around the post-COVID unwinding process, state failures to communicate these details to individuals, as well as procedural issues that prevented many from renewing their coverage.

The “continuous enrollment” provision was included in The Families First Coronavirus Response Act, passed in early 2020, and ensured that states could not withdraw Medicaid and CHIP coverage from individuals during the course of the coronavirus health emergency.

Redeterminations were put on pause until March 2023, leading to a sharp 13 million increase in the number of those receiving public health care.

However, in the months following the expiry of continuous enrollment, KFF surveys revealed that many individuals did not understand the implications of the unwinding process.

Researchers also discovered that delays, administrative errors and other “procedural issues” had resulted in many being unable to complete redeterminations in time to renew their coverage.

There is wide variance in disenrollment rates between states, owing to a number of factors …

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