During the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress put in place automatic renewal protections to ensure that Medicaid enrollees were able to keep their health insurance through Medicaid, even if their income or circumstances changed. This requirement ensured millions of individuals and families were able to keep their health insurance during a time of uncertainty and rising costs. However, Congress has now ended the automatic renewal protection – and millions of people have started losing their health insurance along with access to the care they need. The situation is even worse for people living in the 10 states that still haven’t expanded Medicaid, where the burden of living without health insurance is falling mostly on Black and Latino communities.
Access to affordable coverage like Medicaid significantly improves chances of diagnosing, treating, and surviving cancer. Interruptions in insurance, like those that will result from the end of automatic Medicaid renewals, can have catastrophic effects on cancer patients who cannot delay treatment. ACS CAN is dedicated to improving the lives of people with cancer and their families through advocacy, research, and patient support, to ensure everyone has an opportunity to prevent, detect, treat, and survive cancer.
Left with No Options: A Coverage Crisis Toolkit
Abandonados y sin opciones: Una crisis de cobertura
