Medicaid, CHIP enrollees increase 13.9%

WASHINGTON – A record more than 80 million individuals now have health coverage through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), according to a new Enrollment Trends Snapshot Report that CMS released this week. 

Nearly 9.9 million individuals, a 13.9% increase, enrolled in coverage between February 2020, the month before the public health emergency was declared, and January 2021, according to the report, which is released monthly. 

“This report reminds us what a critical program and rock Medicaid continues to be in giving tens of millions of children and adults access to care,” said Xavier Becerra, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. “This pandemic taught us that now more than, we must work to strengthen Medicaid and make it available whenever and wherever it’s needed using the unprecedented investments Congress provided.” 

The increase in total Medicaid and CHIP enrollment is largely attributed to the impact of the PHE, in particular, enactment of section 6008 of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. FFCRA provides states with a temporary 6.2% payment increase in Federal Medical Assistance Percentage funding. States qualify for the funding by adhering to the Maintenance of Effort requirement, which ensures eligible people enrolled in Medicaid stay enrolled and covered during the PHE. 

Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, a total of 80,543,351 people were enrolled and receiving full benefits from the Medicaid and CHIP programs by the end of January 2021. In the 50 states that reported total Medicaid child and CHIP enrollment data for January 2021, more than 38.3 million children were enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP combined, approximately 50% of the total Medicaid and CHIP enrollment.