AUSTIN — About 50,000 Texas children are losing Medicaid coverage each year because their families fail to quickly send proof to the state they are still poor enough to qualify, state data show.
Yet one in three children kicked off the program in 2017 re-enrolled within a year, according to the most recent data available, suggesting they lost coverage because their parents failed to do the paperwork on time, not because they did not qualify.
Texas, which already leads the nation in uninsured children, is one of several states that verifies income during the year to make sure children are still eligible. Experts aren’t aware of another that conducts the checks as frequently as Texas does.
The parents know these things are needed and how frequent. It has been this way for 20+years.