Because of the commitment of this administration, Louisiana now has an eligibility and enrollment system that is more robust than what had been in place for decades. The new system runs more frequent checks on information that drives eligibility decisions, including employment status and income. This means that as the economy improves and people's income increases, Medicaid is alerted and cases are closed, as appropriate.
Also, Louisiana did not spend any state funds to cover these individuals as almost all people who were found to be over the income limits were expansion enrollees who are currently covered with zero state dollars.
Sending income verification letters is a normal part of the Medicaid process. These letters are nothing new and have been sent previously during application and renewal. The difference now is that the data will be used more often on a quarterly basis.
Finally, CMS alerted the Louisiana Department of Health last week that our Medicaid program is one of only a few in the nation that has used best practices to combat fraud and abuse. This independent, unbiased review recognizes our program integrity unit for using innovative approaches to prevent and detect Medicaid fraud.