61k Ohioans to lose Medicaid benfits

Ohio Medicaid Director John McCarthy said about 61,000 Ohioans will lose their Medicaid benefits by the end of next week because they failed to verify their household income (Source: “61,000 Ohioans to lose Medicaid coverage,” Columbus Dispatch, Feb. 27, 2015). 

The federal government requires states to verify income each year to ensure that Medicaid recipients still qualify for coverage, although the re-authorization process was suspended last year because of the rollout of the new federal healthcare law and start-up of a new computerized eligibility system in Ohio.

McCarthy noted that anyone who is disenrolled but still eligible can turn in the required paperwork within 60 days and have their coverage retroactively reinstated. After that, people may reapply, but there will be a gap in their coverage.

At the beginning of the month, an estimated 107,000 were poised to lose coverage, but McCarthy said more people have submitted the required paperwork as the deadline approaches.