One Year Into ‘Unwinding,’ 20M People Have Lost Medicaid

More than 20 million people lost their Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage as of April 11, 2024, according to data released by states and CMS on the Medicaid eligibility redetermination process. Medicaid enrollment peaked at 94.5 million in April 2023, when states were permitted to resume disenrolling people from Medicaid who no longer qualify after a multiyear pause during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

States have reported Medicaid renewal outcomes for two-thirds of Medicaid/CHIP enrollees, as of April 2024, according to KFF’s Medicaid Enrollment and Unwinding Tracker. Overall, about one-third of enrollees with a completed renewal lost their Medicaid coverage, and 69% of those coverage losses were due to procedural reasons — meaning individuals didn’t return their renewal form within a specific time frame or the state was unable to reach them. Disenrollment rates varied significantly across states, ranging from 57% in Utah to 12% in Maine.