KFF January 25, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in administrative challenges for state Medicaid agencies from staff transitions to telework due to social distancing requirements, increased applications during the economic downturn, and the need to modify policies and procedures to facilitate access to coverage and care in response to the public health crisis. As a result, states have faced increased enrollment while having fewer staff and resources available for routine eligibility and enrollment processing. At the same time, Maintenance of Eligibility (MOE) provisions require states to keep beneficiaries enrolled until the end of the month when the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) ends and prohibit states from adopting more stringent eligibility criteria or increasing premiums, as conditions of receiving temporary increased federal Medicaid...