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WASHINGTON D.C.: As some US states are rapidly ending health care coverage through Medicaid following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 1 million people have been dropped from the program in past months, mainly for not filling out required paperwork.

While the eligibility review is a federal government requirement, the Biden administration expressed its concern at the efforts of some states to conduct the review.

Daniel Tsai, a leading federal Medicaid official, said, “Pushing through things and rushing it will lead to eligible people, kids and families, losing coverage for some period of time,” as quoted by Reuters.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that some 1.5 million people have already been removed from Medicaid in more than two dozen states that started the review process in April.

By far, the highest among states, Florida, has dropped several hundred thousand people from Medicaid, while Arkansas has dropped more than 140,000 people.

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has dismissed criticism of the state’s process, stating, “Those who do not qualify for Medicaid are taking resources from those who need them. But the pandemic is over, and we are leading the way back to normalcy.”

According to the most recent available data from February, more than 93 million people in the US were enrolled in Medicaid, up nearly one-third from the pre-COVID total in January 2020.

The number enrolled has increased because, in exchange for providing states with increased funding, federal law prohibited states from removing people from Medicaid during the pandemic.

With the resumption of eligibility reviews, states have begun assessing a backlog of cases to determine whether people’s incomes or life circumstances have changed. States have one year to complete the process.