Most states completed the process, known as unwinding, last year, which led to the highest national spike in uninsured children in a decade, according to a new report from the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.
Emily Beauregard, executive director of Kentucky Voices for Health, said looking at what has happened in other states is a red flag.
"Not only do we have more paperwork happening now with child renewals in Kentucky taking place, the deep funding cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill means that we're going to struggle with even more paperwork and system issues in the future," said Beauregard. "And it's going to be hard to keep kids enrolled."
Beauregard says in August, 14% of the children who underwent renewal lost their coverage. But more than half of these disenrollments were due to paperwork issues by the state or by the family, she said, not ineligibility.
She projected that if this rate continues, about 86,000 Kentucky children could lose their health insurance by next July.
Many families in Kentucky don't realize that the income eligibility limit to qualify for Medicaid is much higher for kids, added Beauregard, so children could still be eligible even if their parents aren’t.
She advised families to submit the paperwork to renew their children’s coverage regardless.
"We've been really trying to get the word out to families that it's important to complete that paperwork," said Beauregard. "Whether you think your kids are eligible or not, let the state process the paperwork and make that determination."
Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown Center, said unprecedented Medicaid funding cuts, more red tape for parents, expiring subsidies, and fear in immigrant communities of sharing personal information with the government will continue to cause a spike in eligible children losing coverage.
"Chaos and confusion caused by misinformation and discussions of cuts to come," said Alker, "all erode the more welcoming climate that existed in recent years."
Beauregard emphasized that investing in children's healthcare is good for families, and it's also good for the economy.
She said children who have access to Medicaid grow up healthier, have better educational outcomes, and even pay more taxes as adults.