CMS posts final Medicaid/CHIP enrollment report prior to Trump takeover: 79.3M in October 2024

via the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS):

October 2024 Key Findings

Medicaid and CHIP Enrollment

• In October 2024, 79.3 million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP.
  • 72.1 million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid, and 7.2 million individuals were enrolled in CHIP.
  • 41.7 million adults were enrolled in Medicaid, and there were 37.6 million Medicaid child and CHIP enrollees.

Medicaid and CHIP Applications Received

• In October 2024, Medicaid, CHIP, Human Services agencies, and State-based Marketplaces received 2.6 million applications, or 2 percent more applications, as compared to September 2024.
• The number of applications received has increased by 20 percent since October 2023 and increased by 66 percent since October 2022.

Total Medicaid/CHIP enrollment in October 2024 still dropped very slightly from September...by just 55,000 people.

The all-time high enrollment watermark for Medicaid/CHIP was in April 2023, when it officially hit 94.1 million Americans (possibly as high as 95.7 million if you include the U.S. territories).

It's important to note that CMS actually has two different reports on Medicaid enrollment: The monthly Medicaid & CHIP Enrollment Trend Snapshot (referenced above) and the Medicaid Budget & Expenditure System (MBES).

Each type of report measures Medicaid enrollment a bit differently:

• The MBES report is 7 months out of date (through June 2024) while the Trend Snapshot is only 3 months outdated (through October 2024).

• The MBES count includes individuals enrolled in limited benefit plans and the Performance Indicator count does not include such individuals.

• The MBES data represents the count of unduplicated individuals enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program at any time during each month in the quarterly reporting period, while the Performance Indicator data captures the count of individuals enrolled on the last day of the month.

• The MBES count only includes individuals whose coverage is funded through Medicaid (title XIX of the Social Security Act), while the published Performance Indicator also includes individuals funded through CHIP (title XXI of the SSA).

• MBES and Performance Indicator data may be derived from different state systems.

• Retroactive state adjustments to MBES or Performance Indicator data may be in progress.

• States have likely generated MBES data and Performance Indicator data from state systems on different dates.

• The other major difference: The MBES reports include Medicaid enrollees in the U.S. territories: American Samoa, Guam, N. Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The MBES numbers for U.S. territories stood at 1.54 million Medicaid enrollees as of June 2024. If you add those to the Trend Snapshot total for the 50 states +DC, it comes in at 80.9 million as of October 2024.

It's also worth noting that ACA Medicaid Expansion enrollment specifically  was 20.9 million as of June 2024 according to the MBES report. This puts total ACA Medicaid expansion down by around 3 million from the all-time high it reached in May 2023.