In April 2023, states began the process of unwinding the Medicaid continuous enrollment provision, a pandemic-era policy that protected Medicaid coverage for millions of enrollees. During the unwinding, states redetermined eligibility for everyone on the program and disenrolled those who were no longer eligible or who did not complete the renewal process. Before the start of the coronavirus pandemic in February 2020, there were 71 million people enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP. After the three-year pause in disenrollments, that number grew to a record high of 94 million people by April 2023, the month after the end of continuous enrollment. From the outset of the unwinding, there were major questions related to how many people would be disenrolled versus retain coverage and how that would affect overall Medicaid enrollment. Now that nearly all states have completed the unwinding of the Medicaid continuous enrollment provision, it is possible to take stock of overall renewal outcomes as well as where Medicaid enrollment stands and how current enrollment compares to pre-pandemic levels, nationally and across states. The Medicaid and CHIP enrollment data show more recent changes in enrollment that are not reflected in national survey data that report the overall uninsured rate in 2023 did not change from 2022, although there was an increase in the uninsured rate for children in 2023.
