Xiong Announces Express Lane Health Enrollment for Eligible Michigan Kids
“Express Lane Enrollment” legislation would enact a streamlined health care enrollment process for eligible children and young adults under 21
LANSING, Mich., April 23, 2026 — State Rep. Mai Xiong (D-Warren) recently introduced legislation that would enact a streamlined enrollment process for children and young adults under 21 who may be eligible for Medicaid and health care programs administered through the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). Xiong’s House Bill 5884 provides a common sense fix: Express Lane Eligibility (ELE), already authorized under federal law, which allows DHHS to use existing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) data to streamline Medicaid enrollment for kids and young adults.
All of the enrollment data was based on official reports via the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) through May 2026 for Medicare, Medicaid & CHIP and through February 2026 for ACA exchange coverage. I included estimated ACA enrollment data for March, April & May 2026 by extrapolating the limited hard data I did have for about a dozen or so states out nationally, including both a lower- and upper-bound range.
My conclusion at the time was that from January 2025 through May 2026...
Trump Administration Delivers Second Year of Savings by Stopping Taxpayer Payments for Duplicate and Deceased Enrollees in Obamacare
WASHINGTON—October 14, 2026—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a division of the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), continue to crush fraud, waste, and abuse in America’s healthcare programs by stopping duplicative enrollment in government health programs, with the potential to save taxpayers approximately $1.5 billion annually.
At a press conference today in Washington, D.C., Secretary Kennedy announced that in 2026, CMS identified 189,000 people with subsidized Obamacare coverage through the Federal Marketplace with duplicate Medicare, Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage, or who were deceased — and took swift action to remove Obamacare subsidies for these people to save taxpayer dollars.
The Trump administration’s announcement earlier today around Affordable Care Act enrollees does not currently affect Washington state. The focus of this effort involves enrollees who are part of the federal marketplace, rather than state-based marketplaces like Washington Health Benefit Exchange.
Strong program integrity has been and remains a goal of the Exchange; where ongoing public trust and the responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars are part of our success. We take these efforts very seriously and continue to act quickly if any issues arise. There is no evidence that there are issues with brokers or enrollees in Washington state, as highlighted in the federal marketplace. The Exchange has proven processes in place to identify broker conduct issues and continually seeks to strengthen safeguards around broker access and consumer authorization, effectively reducing risk for Washington consumers.
Yesterday I wrote about the standard monthly Medicaid/CHIP enrollment report published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). I noted that as of April 2026, total combined Medicaid & CHIP enrollment had fallen by another 398,000 people, to around 73.9 million Americans.
I also noted that this figure is nearly 5.1 million lower than it was as of January 2025...the same month that Donald Trump returned to the White House and Republicans took over all three branches of the federal government.
