OHSU study finds patients of color nationwide twice as likely to lose Medicaid coverage due to administrative issues

Think Out Loud

The federal COVID-19 emergency declaration, which expanded Medicaid coverage, officially ended last spring. Since then, state agencies that oversee Medicaid have been updating their eligibility rosters and disenrolling patients who no longer qualify. While some patients were determined ineligible, the vast majority were disenrolled for administrative reasons such as incomplete applications, incorrect paperwork and missed renewal notices.

A recent study from Oregon Health & Science University found that Black and Hispanic patients were twice as likely to lose coverage for those reasons than white patients. Jane Zhu is an associate professor of medicine at OHSU and one of the study’s authors. She joins us with more details.