Phil Galewitz, KFF Health News
Last August, as a part of the federal authorities’s crackdown on folks within the nation illegally, the Trump administration sent states the names of a whole bunch of 1000’s of Medicaid enrollees with orders to find out whether or not they had been ineligible primarily based on immigration standing.
But seven months later, findings from 5 states shared with KFF Health News present that the evaluations have uncovered little proof of a widespread downside.
Only U.S. residents and a few lawfully current immigrants are eligible for Medicaid, which covers well being care prices for folks with low incomes and disabilities, and the carefully associated Children’s Health Insurance Program. Both packages are administered by states.
Spokespeople from Pennsylvania’s and Colorado’s Medicaid companies mentioned, as of March, the states had discovered nobody who wanted to be terminated from Medicaid. That was after checking a mixed 79,000 names.
Texas has reviewed data of greater than 28,000 Medicaid enrollees on the Trump administration’s request and terminated protection for 77 of them, in response to Jennifer Ruffcorn, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Human Services.
Ohio has checked 65,000 Medicaid enrollees, of which 260 folks had been disenrolled from this system, mentioned Stephanie O’Grady, a spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Medicaid.
In Utah, 42 of the 8,000 enrollees recognized by the Trump administration had their Medicaid protection terminated, mentioned Becky Wickstrom, a spokesperson for the state’s Department of Workforce Services.
In asserting the evaluations, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. mentioned: “We are tightening oversight of enrollment to safeguard taxpayer dollars and guarantee that these vital programs serve only those who are truly eligible under the law.”
Leonardo Cuello, a analysis professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, mentioned the evaluations ordered by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services had been unneeded as a result of states test immigration standing when folks join.
“It is entirely predictable that all of these burdensome reviews that the federal government is forcing upon states would yield no pay dirt,” Cuello mentioned. “The states had already done the reviews once, and CMS was just making them reverify the same information they had already checked. Making states go through the same bureaucratic process twice is incredibly wasteful and inefficient.”
CMS spokesperson Chris Krepich mentioned in a press release to KFF Health News that the continued checks are verifying eligibility “for certain enrollees whose status could not be confirmed through federal data sources.”
“CMS provides states with regular reports for follow-up review, and states are responsible for independently verifying eligibility and taking appropriate action consistent with federal requirements,” he mentioned.
But the findings shared with KFF Health News additionally counsel that lots of the enrollees whose eligibility the Trump administration mentioned it couldn’t verify are certainly U.S. residents. O’Grady mentioned Ohio discovered that, of the 65,000 names referred by the federal authorities, the state already had info on 53,000 confirming them as residents and a further 11,000 exhibiting applicable immigration standing for Medicaid.
Caseworkers then labored on the remaining 1,000 names to assessment their info or attain out for extra particulars, she mentioned.
CMS didn’t reply questions concerning the findings from the states sampled by KFF Health News or present details about responses it acquired from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, which had been instructed to carry out verification checks.
The company additionally didn’t reply to a query about whether or not it’s forwarding the names of these whose Medicaid protection was terminated to federal immigration officers.
In June, advisers to Kennedy ordered CMS to share details about Medicaid enrollees with the Department of Homeland Security, prompting a lawsuit by some states alarmed that the administration would use the data for its deportation marketing campaign in opposition to residents residing within the U.S. with out authorization.
A federal choose ruled in December that Immigration and Customs Enforcement staff might entry info solely about folks within the nation unlawfully within the Medicaid databases of the states that sued.
CMS continues to ship states lists of names at the least each few months, although state officers say the numbers have declined because the first batch final summer time.
People with out authorized standing are ineligible for federally funded well being protection, together with Medicaid, Medicare, and plans via the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. Medicaid does reimburse hospitals for offering emergency care to folks with out authorized standing in the event that they meet earnings and different program necessities.
Seven states and the District of Columbia present well being protection no matter immigration standing, funding the packages with their very own cash.
In March 2025, CMS started monetary evaluations of these packages. “CMS has identified over $1.8 billion in federal funds that are being recouped through voluntary returns and deferrals of future federal Medicaid payments,” Krepich mentioned. He didn’t reply how a lot has been collected thus far or from which states.
Medicaid’s total spending topped $900 billion in fiscal 12 months 2024.
KFF Health News is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points and is likely one of the core working packages at KFF—an unbiased supply of well being coverage analysis, polling, and journalism. Learn extra about KFF.
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