During the pandemic, the U.S. government required states to keep people on Medicaid without checking their eligibility. Medicaid is health insurance for low-income Americans as well as for people with extensive disabilities. The federal government reasoned people shouldn't lose coverage during a public health emergency. Then, as the pandemic wound down, those who found jobs or earned too much to qualify, had to find other coverage. The problem was, some people who still qualified for Medicaid lost coverage as states began reviewing enrollment. Rae Ellen Bichell, of KFF Health News wrote an article about the challenges Colorado and other states faced with what’s known as “Medicaid Unwinding” and why Colorado disenrolled more people than most other states.
