State Healthcare

30K removed from Louisiana Medicaid rolls, deemed ineligible

Associated Press: More than 30,000 people in Louisiana have been booted from the Medicaid program, after an upgraded state computer check determined they earn too much to receive the taxpayer-financed health insurance. Louisiana’s health department sent notices to 40,000 Medicaid recipients in February, warning them they would lose the insurance coverage unless they could demonstrate by March 29 that they met the program’s income requirements. Three-quarters of those who received the letters — 30,500 people — lost their benefits at the end of March, said agency spokesman Robert Johannessen. Nearly all of them are non-elderly adults enrolled through the Medicaid expansion that Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards enacted in 2016.

“Either they did not respond to the letter or they earn too much. It could be both,” Johannessen said. “We are still processing some paperwork so that 30,500 could change, but not substantially.” An upgraded computer system identified those who were deemed ineligible for Medicaid coverage.

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