More people in South Carolina are relying on government safety net programs for health insurance as the economic effects of COVID-19 linger.
Enrollments in both Medicaid, the state’s low-income health insurance program, and the Affordable Care Act, which provides government subsidies for almost everyone who enrolls, increased by tens of thousands in late 2020.
Experts believe the increase is directly related to job losses during the pandemic or to the decision to leave the workforce because of the effects of COVID-19.
Between March and December, 90,000 people were added to the state’s Medicaid program. And while Medicaid mainly covers children in South Carolina, most additions to the program were for adults.
Meanwhile, South Carolina removed some 76,000 people from its workforce between February and December.
Laura Ullrich, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, said there is no doubt that the two facts are linked.
“We have an employer-dominated health insurance system and people have lost their jobs,” said Ullrich.
While South Carolina’s 4.6 percent unemployment rate looks good at first glance, Ullrich said the figure does not take into account people who are leaving the job market.
The SC Department of Health and Human Services, which operates the state Medicaid program, says new registrants should not undermine funding.
About 70 percent of the funding that supplies South Carolina’s Medicaid program comes from the federal government, according to the state agency. During the pandemic, states received a boost in this funding during the public health emergency. A spokesman said the agency has also maintained a reserve fund since the Great Recession, in order to prepare for crises like the one that COVID-19 brought.
In addition, as Medicaid rules changed during the pandemic, it is not removing coverage from people who may no longer qualify. This low turnover means that more people are staying on the program.
Still, the threshold for qualifying for Medicaid as an adult is high. And even before the pandemic, 16% of South Carolina adults under the age of 65 did not have health coverage – one of the highest rates in the country – according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
In another indicator of people’s need for health coverage, 16,000 more South Carolinians selected plans at HealthCare.gov during open enrollment in 2020 than in 2019. It was the highest level of enrollment seen since 2016, the third year of the program .
Shelli Quenga, program director for the nonprofit insurance agency The Palmetto Project, has been helping people enroll in plans through the Affordable Care Act since 2013.
The open enrollment at HealthCare.gov usually lasts six weeks. But because of the pandemic, newly inaugurated President Joe Biden decided to reopen the application period. It will remain open until mid-May.
Quenga said his organization’s call center is surprisingly busy. “We have been hit by people who are trying very hard to get coverage,” she said.
Another 6,100 people have signed up during the extension in South Carolina so far. With government help, some people may even qualify for high-deductible health plans that cost $ 0 a month.
Quenga said that there are still many people in South Carolina whose income is too high for Medicaid, but they also don’t earn enough money to qualify for help through the Affordable Care Act. They fall under what is known as the “health care gap” roof”.
“There is that abyss that families can fall into,” she said. “You are outside, hanging in the wind, hoping you won’t get sick.”
Catch up Mary Katherine Wildeman at 843-607-4312. Follow her on Twitter @mkwildeman.