Almost 7 million children and teens are at risk of losing their health coverage when the public health emergency ends, new estimates from the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute show.
Why it matters: States in April will begin redetermining Medicaid eligibility as pandemic-inspired coverage requirements lapse and enhanced federal matching funds dry up.
A new U.S. government assessment that COVID-19 likely originated from a lab leak in China has ignited yet another round of political furor around the issue, adding to many Republicans' anger over how the pandemic was handled even as many scientists remain convinced the virus most likely originated naturally.
Why it matters: Even though U.S. intelligence agencies are divided on which direction the evidence points, some prominent members of the GOP are already seizing on the news as evidence that they were right all along.
Millions of people who rely on Medicaid coverage may be removed from the program over the next year.
The big picture: Under the COVID public health emergency, the federal government required state Medicaid agencies to provide coverage, even if an individual's eligibility changed.
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