Nearly 1.7 million Texans lose Medicaid as state nears end of “unwinding”

By Neelam Bohra, The Texas Tribune Dec. 14, 2023 “Nearly 1.7 million Texans lose Medicaid as state nears end of “unwinding”” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. Nearly 1.7 million Texans have lost their health insurance — the largest number of people any state has removed — in the months since Texas began peeling people from Medicaid as part of the post-pandemic “unwinding.” Around 65% of these removals occurred because of procedural reasons, according to the state. Texas’ Health and Human Services Commission has neared the end of a chaotic and overburdened process to remove people from state Medicaid insurance who became ineligible during the coronavirus pandemic. The state had not unenrolled people before this year because of federal pandemic rules, which forbid states from cutting coverage. As a result, more than 5 million Texans had continuous access to health care throughout the pandemic through Medicaid, the joint federal-and-state-funded insurance program for low-income individuals. In...