CHICAGO — The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced last week that 2.8 million Americans are improperly enrolled in Medicaid, CHIP, or ACA Exchange plans, wasting $14 billion annually. The discovery underscores the urgency of modernizing Medicaid list maintenance systems – a solution the Institute for Responsive Government advocated for earlier this year.

After a Wall Street Journal investigation revealed the scale of duplicate Medicaid enrollments this March, Responsive Gov proposed a new federal data-sharing program, modelled after the successful Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), which is used to maintain voter rolls in 24 states and Washington D.C. That proposal was included in H.R.1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was signed into law by President Trump on July 4.

“This announcement from CMS makes clear that Medicaid’s enrollment systems need modernization – and an ‘ERIC for Medicaid’ solution is exactly the kind of smart, tested fix that can cut waste without harming families who rely on the program,” said Sam Oliker-Friedland, executive director of the Institute for Responsive Government. “Now that Congress has passed the policy, it’s up to the federal government to take the lead on building and implementing the system effectively, working with states as trusted partners.”

The new system will require states to securely share Medicaid enrollment data monthly, enabling cross-state checks to prevent duplicate coverage and reduce waste. The Congressional Budget Office estimates this system will save $5.8 billion for taxpayers each year – with $3.48 billion in federal savings and $2.32 billion for states.

“Passing a policy is one thing, but effective implementation is where the rubber meets the road,” Oliker-Friedland added. “CMS can now use its new authority to build a secure, efficient, accurate system that works for both the millions of Americans that rely on Medicaid and the administrators that keep the program running.”

To speak with Sam Oliker-Friedland or other Responsive Gov policy experts about cross-sector innovations in Medicaid and beyond, please contact dan@responsivegov.org.

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The Institute for Responsive Government is a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to ensuring state and federal governments work effectively for the very people they serve. The Institute for Responsive Government provides data, research, and expertise to elected officials in order to find practical policy solutions that make government systems more efficient, accessible, and responsive.