Nearly half of Medicaid expansion enrollees likely did not qualify costing taxpayers 33 billion

Paragon report finds 9.2 million of 20.2 million expansion enrollees in 2024 were likely ineligible.

That equals 46 percent under the main assumptions used.

Federal cost of the improper enrollment hits an estimated 32.9 billion dollars.

The number of improper enrollees nearly doubled since 2019.

California alone accounts for about 3.1 million improper cases and over 10 billion in costs.

Roughly one third of the improper cases look like traditional Medicaid people misclassified for the higher federal match rate.

The problem shows up in almost every expansion state.

Even under the most optimistic take-up assumption more than 5 million still appear ineligible.

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