Final August, as a part of the federal authorities’s crackdown on individuals within the nation illegally, the Trump administration despatched states the names of a whole lot of 1000’s of Medicaid enrollees with orders to find out whether or not they have been ineligible primarily based on immigration standing.
However seven months later, findings from 5 states shared with KFF Well being Information present that the opinions have uncovered little proof of a widespread downside.
Solely U.S. residents and a few lawfully current immigrants are eligible for Medicaid, which covers well being care prices for individuals with low incomes and disabilities, and the intently associated Kids’s Well being Insurance coverage Program. Each applications are administered by states.
Spokespeople from Pennsylvania’s and Colorado’s Medicaid companies stated, as of March, the states had discovered nobody who wanted to be terminated from Medicaid. That was after checking a mixed 79,000 names.
Texas has reviewed data of greater than 28,000 Medicaid enrollees on the Trump administration’s request and terminated protection for 77 of them, in line with Jennifer Ruffcorn, a spokesperson for the Texas Division of Human Companies.
Ohio has checked 65,000 Medicaid enrollees, of which 260 individuals have been disenrolled from this system, stated Stephanie O’Grady, a spokesperson for the Ohio Division of Medicaid.
In Utah, 42 of the 8,000 enrollees recognized by the Trump administration had their Medicaid protection terminated, stated Becky Wickstrom, a spokesperson for the state’s Division of Workforce Companies.
In saying the opinions, Well being and Human Companies Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated: “We’re tightening oversight of enrollment to safeguard taxpayer {dollars} and assure that these very important applications serve solely those that are really eligible underneath the regulation.”
Leonardo Cuello, a analysis professor at Georgetown College’s Middle for Kids and Households, stated the opinions ordered by the federal Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Companies have been unneeded as a result of states verify immigration standing when individuals join.
“It’s completely predictable that each one of those burdensome opinions that the federal authorities is forcing upon states would yield no pay grime,” Cuello stated. “The states had already executed the opinions as soon as, and CMS was simply making them reverify the identical data they’d already checked. Making states undergo the identical bureaucratic course of twice is extremely wasteful and inefficient.”
CMS spokesperson Chris Krepich stated in a press release to KFF Well being Information that the continued checks are verifying eligibility “for sure enrollees whose standing couldn’t be confirmed by way of federal knowledge sources.”
“CMS supplies states with common studies for follow-up evaluate, and states are accountable for independently verifying eligibility and taking applicable motion according to federal necessities,” he stated.
However the findings shared with KFF Well being Information additionally recommend that most of the enrollees whose eligibility the Trump administration stated it couldn’t affirm are certainly U.S. residents. O’Grady stated Ohio discovered that, of the 65,000 names referred by the federal authorities, the state already had data on 53,000 confirming them as residents and a further 11,000 displaying applicable immigration standing for Medicaid.
Caseworkers then labored on the remaining 1,000 names to evaluate their data or attain out for extra particulars, she stated.
CMS didn’t reply questions concerning the findings from the states sampled by KFF Well being Information or present details about responses it acquired from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, which have been instructed to carry out verification checks.
The company additionally didn’t reply to a query about whether or not it’s forwarding the names of these whose Medicaid protection was terminated to federal immigration officers.
In June, advisers to Kennedy ordered CMS to share details about Medicaid enrollees with the Division of Homeland Safety, prompting a lawsuit by some states alarmed that the administration would use the knowledge for its deportation marketing campaign towards residents residing within the U.S. with out authorization.
A federal decide dominated in December that Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees may entry data solely about individuals within the nation unlawfully within the Medicaid databases of the states that sued.
CMS continues to ship states lists of names at the very least each few months, although state officers say the numbers have declined for the reason that first batch final summer time.
Folks with out authorized standing are ineligible for federally funded well being protection, together with Medicaid, Medicare, and plans by way of the Reasonably priced Care Act marketplaces. Medicaid does reimburse hospitals for offering emergency care to individuals with out authorized standing in the event that they meet revenue and different program necessities.
Seven states and the District of Columbia present well being protection no matter immigration standing, funding the applications with their very own cash.
In March 2025, CMS started monetary opinions of these applications. “CMS has recognized over $1.8 billion in federal funds which are being recouped by way of voluntary returns and deferrals of future federal Medicaid funds,” Krepich stated. He didn’t reply how a lot has been collected thus far or from which states.
Medicaid’s total spending topped $900 billion in fiscal yr 2024.
