Rural Medicaid enrollees face additional challenges during Medicaid unwinding

Experts say that procedural disenrollments from Medicaid related to the end of the pandemic public health emergency could disproportionately affect people living in rural areas (Source: “How Will Rural Americans Fare During Medicaid Unwinding? Experts Fear They’re on Their Own,” KFF Health News, Sept. 20).

A brief recently published by researchers at the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families noted that rural Medicaid recipients face additional barriers to renewing coverage, including longer distances to eligibility offices and less access to the internet.

Having navigators in rural communities to help people in person is an ongoing challenge, said Joan Alker, who is one of the brief’s co-authors and the executive director of the Center for Children and Families. But the unwinding circumstances make it an especially important moment for navigators in guiding people through complex insurance processes, she said.