Kenya Carrillo
Staff Writer
Soomi Lee, professor of public administration, discussed her research “Configurational Pathways to Medicaid Renewal Performance Across U.S. States,” Tuesday in the Lewis Center classroom.
The lecture’s audience were all faculty and staff, there were about 12 people in attendance.
Lee spoke about the challenges people can face when renewing Medicaid and how some people may lose their health coverage because of problems with the renewal process.
Lee worked with Sheila Bonfa, a public administration graduate student, on the project.
Their research gives an overview of Medicaid renewal systems across different states and the barriers that can make it harder for people to keep their benefits.
During the pandemic, Medicaid enrollment increased from about 71 million people to more than 94 million. After states began checking eligibility again in 2023, more than 25 million people lost their coverage, Lee’s research found.
“Among those 25 million people, 70% of them lost their benefits because of some procedural reasons, not because they are determined to be ineligible,” Lee said.
Lee explained that people can lose their coverage because of problems like missing paperwork or not completing parts of the renewal process.
Her research focused on four areas that can affect Medicaid renewals: automation, documentation requirements, digital access, and challenges working with state agencies.
Professor of Political Science Jason Neidleman, who attended the talk, and asked Lee about automation.
“Automation basically reduces learning cost and compliance (costs),” Lee said.
Learning costs include having to understand how the renewal process works. Compliance costs include collecting documents and sending them to the state.
Automation can make some of those steps easier because states can use information they already have to renew some recipients, Lee said.
Lee also discussed the stress people face when they have difficulty getting help from the state.
“Psychologically you’re frustrated and then you are afraid,” Lee said.
Her research found that states can have better renewal results when automation is implemented, and documentation requirements are reduced.
Currently to receive Medicaid, one needs proof of income, household information and more.
After the lecture, Lee took questions.
Kenneth Marcus, professor of history, asked Lee what she would recommend for states to make the whole process easier.
“Having automation is important,” Lee said.
She added, however, that even when a state has an automated system, other parts of the renewal process can still be difficult. People may be required to provide many documents, they may have difficulty getting questions answered by phone, and they may notice or request information with little time to respond.
“If you have high burden factors present, then it’s not going to help,” Lee said.
“You’ve got to have all these things thinking together… instead of looking at just one factor at a time,” Lee said.
Assistant Provost Daniel Toro Gonzalez, who attended the presentation, said one of his biggest takeaways was how many things can affect people’s access.
“There are a lot of challenges, most of them administrative,” Toro Gonzalez said. “And from a policy perspective, … we need to sort (it) out in order to help people actually to have access to healthcare.”
Kenya Carrillo can be reached at kenya.carrillo@laverne.edu.
Kenya Carrillo is a sophomore communications major with a concentration in public relations, and a staff writer for the Campus Times.
