Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said more than two-dozen states, including Kansas, failed to conduct renewal assessments properly and consequently disenrolled too many people. Officials say that Medicaid expansion — which GOP lawmakers in Kansas have repeatedly blocked — would have protected some of the patients.

Missouri’s share of children being disenrolled from Medicaid is third-highest among the states that report age breakouts. Nearly 40,000 kids total lost coverage — mostly for paperwork reasons — and it's not yet clear how many were able to cycle back or move to another program.

As Missouri and all states begin reassessing the eligibility of every Medicaid participant on their rolls, one major concern is that many are losing coverage due to paperwork issues rather than a lack of eligibility. Of those who lost coverage in June and July, three-quarters were for "procedural reasons."

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found that callers to Missouri's social services helpline waited an average of 48 minutes before reaching someone, and 44% of callers hung up before being helped.

During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government issued emergency protections that barred states from removing people from the government-funded health insurance program for low-income people and families. That changes this month.

A Missouri hospital violated federal law by denying Mylissa Farmer an abortion when her water broke at 17 weeks. She was also turned away by the Kansas University Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, where doctors affirmed that her condition was serious but also denied her an abortion.

Since the federal public health emergency was declared in March 2020, states have been barred from removing enrollees from Medicaid, in exchange for enhanced federal funds. That pause on conducting eligibility redeterminations will end April 1.

Missouri on average took 41 days to process a Medicaid application in September for the eligibility group which includes low-income children, pregnant people, families and adults.

State officials declared the backlog of Medicaid applications "no more" and expressed optimism they would meet a federal deadline set for the end of the month. The state's processing time had grown to 115 days, far longer than allowed under law.

The federal government requires states to process Medicaid applications within 45 days. But in Missouri, roughly four in every five applications took longer to process than that, eight times the national average.

Missouri’s Medicaid program is now operating under a CMS-approved mitigation plan, which seeks to curb wait times that reached 115 days in late June — more than double what federal laws allow.

Federal rules give states a maximum turnaround time of 45 days to process Medicaid applications. In April, Missouri took an average of 101 days to process a signup.