More than half a million patients lose coverage since Georgia Medicaid unwinding start, data shows

ATLANTA — In the eight months since Georgia’s Medicaid redetermination process started, more than half a million patients have lost their health coverage, if it came from Medicaid and Peachcare for Kids.

As of December, state data shows a few more than 503,500 patients, or roughly 41% of those attempting to renew or receive coverage through the program, were terminated or deemed ineligible.

In just December, 49,418 patients were terminated from the program and more than 6,800 were deemed ineligible.

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As of the latest reported data, 42,476 Georgians had applications still pending. 128,071 Georgians had pending renewals in the same month, while 45,388 were automatically renewed.

A mid-January publication by the Georgia Department of Community Health regarding the unwinding process said they expect 14% of pending renewals from December to retain their coverage, while 40% had been found ineligible due to a change of circumstance or lack of response to state information requests.

Officials said 35% of individuals with December renewal deadlines were procedurally terminated from the two health coverage programs.

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In terms of why, DCH said “the State has data that over 17,000 of the individuals who were procedurally terminated likely would no longer have been eligible due to several factors, including: increased income, changed household composition, aging out of coverage, and moving out of state.”

The income requirements to be eligible for state Medicaid and PeachCare coverage for an individual is $36,013 per year before taxes, according to the Georgia income limits published by the U.S. Government’s benefits.gov website.

For children under the age of 19, the income limit for individual people is $29,892 per year before taxes, meaning someone at or below 205% of the federal poverty level, according to documents from state officials.

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