February 6th, 2023 by WCBC Radio

WBAL reports Maryland officials are preparing for as many as 80,000 residents who could no longer qualify for Medicaid coverage this spring, as the federal government reinstates a requirement that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic for states to verify the eligibility of recipients.

Michele Eberle, the executive director of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange, said that beginning in May, the state can start ending Medicaid coverage for people who no longer qualify. Maryland, she added, is in a better position to reach people than many other states to either continue Medicaid coverage or move them into other health plans.

“We are working through all of those numbers right now, but we believe it’s around 80,000," Eberle told a panel of lawmakers last month. "There’s different little discrepancies of those numbers. The numbers we’ve come up with is about 80,000 that would roll off, people that we’ll have to make sure we’ve got them covered.”

Medicaid enrollment ballooned during the pandemic, in part because the federal government prohibited states from removing people from the program during the public health emergency once they had enrolled.

The program offers health care coverage to roughly 90 million children and adults — or 1 out of every 4 Americans.