Nearly half of all Missouri residents kicked off Medicaid in last 3 months were children

Missouri’s share of children being disenrolled from Medicaid is third-highest among the states that report age breakouts. Nearly 40,000 kids total lost coverage — mostly for paperwork reasons — and it's not yet clear how many were able to cycle back or move to another program.
Another 12,833 children were removed from the state’s Medicaid program in August — more than three-quarters of whom were terminated because of paperwork issues rather than being determined ineligible.

August was the third month of the state reassessing the eligibility of every Medicaid participant, after a three year COVID-era pause on the practice. The process will take place over a year.

Around one-quarter of the state’s population is enrolled in Medicaid, the government health insurance program for low-income residents, called MO HealthNet in Missouri.

According to newly-released data from Missouri’s Department of Social Services, nearly half — 49% — of all terminations from June through August were terminations of children’s Medicaid coverage.