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About 149,000 Arizonans have been removed from AHCCCS so far

Roughly 149,000 Arizonans have been removed from the Medicaid rolls as of the middle of June — that’s the second highest total in the country.  The data from the Kaiser Family Foundation show, nationwide, more than 1.1 million Medicaid enrollees have been disenrolled.

During the COVID-19 public health emergency, the federal government sent money to states to help cover the costs of keeping residents enrolled; states were not allowed to take people off the rolls. But now that the public health emergency has ended, states have been allowed to start doing what’s called redeterminations — basically seeing if a member is still eligible for the coverage — as of April 1. And as a result, people are being removed from the Medicaid rolls, both here and in states across the country.

The Show talked more about how that’s going in Arizona with Carmen Heredia, director of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS, Arizona’s Medicaid program. 

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Mark Brodie is a co-host of The Show, KJZZ’s locally produced news magazine. Since starting at KJZZ in 2002, Brodie has been a host, reporter and producer, including several years covering the Arizona Legislature, based at the Capitol.