New Findings Reported from Harvard Medical School Describe Advances in COVID-19 (Continuous Medicaid coverage during the COVID-19 public health emergency reduced churning, but did not eliminate it): Coronavirus – COVID-19

CDC & FDA Daily

2023 NOV 29 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at CDC & FDA Daily -- Investigators publish new report on COVID-19. According to news reporting out of Boston, Massachusetts, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “Preserving insurance coverage in the wake of pandemic-related job loss was a priority in early 2020.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Harvard Medical School: “To this end, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act implemented a continuous coverage policy in Medicaid to shore up access to health insurance. Prior to the pandemic, Medicaid enrollees experienced frequent coverage disruptions, known as “churning.” The effect of the continuous coverage policy on churning during the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) is unknown. We performed a difference-in-differences analysis of nonelderly Medicaid enrollees using longitudinal national survey data to compare a 2019-2020 cohort exposed to the policy with a control cohort in 2018-2019. We found that the policy led to reduced transitions to uninsurance among adults, although not among children. The policy prevented over 300 000 transitions to uninsurance each month.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “However, disenrollment from Medicaid persisted at a low rate, despite the continuous coverage policy. As the PHE unwinds, policymakers should consider long-term continuous coverage policies to minimize churning in Medicaid.”

For more information on this research see: Continuous Medicaid coverage during the COVID-19 public health emergency reduced churning, but did not eliminate it. Health Affairs Scholar, 2023,1(5). The publisher for Health Affairs Scholar is Oxford University Press (OUP).

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1093/haschl/qxad055.

Our news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Daniel B Nelson, Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, United States. Additional authors for this research include Anna L Goldman, Fang Zhang, Hao Yu.

ORCID is an identifier for authors and includes bibliographic information. The following is ORCID information for the authors of this research: Daniel B Nelson (http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9249-4439), Fang Zhang (http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8282-8738).