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By Jon Styf | The Center Square

Nearly 239,000 Tennessee residents have lost eligibility from the first 735,000 who had eligibility checked for TennCare services through September, according to a new TennCare renewal report.

TennCare was down to 1.7 million enrollees in November after 1.9 million in June. The program began redetermination of eligibility along with Medicaid providers across the country in April.

Each month, TennCare releases enrollment numbers and an unwinding report, which looks at the status of those who were up for the eligibility checked referred to as “redetermination.”

COVID-19 health emergency rules blocked redetermination between March 2020 to March 31. That meant anyone who qualified once for the programs continued to be eligible until this year.

The September numbers showed 106,872 were reviewed in the month with 52,941 auto-renewing based upon other eligibility or filings and nearly 10,000 approved.

More than 28,000 lost eligibility in the month.

Overall, 305,713 have auto-renewed with 145,373 being approved after a full review of the 735,000 members reviewed.

Of the 229,499 who have lost eligibility, nearly 162,000 were due to failing to return a renewal packet.

Cumulative data shows it is mainly adults aged 19 to 64 who have lost eligibility with 142,210 in that group determined to be ineligible during the process compared to 139,849 who were renewed.

For children up to age 19, 278,986 have been renewed and 62,000 have lost coverage.