Deloitte Controls Medicaid Access in 25 States. Michigan Shows What Goes Wrong.
Deloitte has run Michigan’s Medicaid eligibility system since 2006 under contracts worth roughly $768 million. A KFF Health News investigation published July 21, 2026, found that system has systematically steered disabled people into skimpier benefit tiers or denied their coverage outright, due to IT errors the state has known about.
25 states have awarded Deloitte contracts to build or run computer systems controlling access to Medicaid and other safety net benefits.
That concentration of control matters because errors in one system design can replicate across state lines. Similar problems surfaced in a Tennessee class-action lawsuit and in Texas, according to court documents and state records reviewed by KFF Health News.
An IT Error Left a Disabled Woman Without Heart Medication
Marie Noon takes eight medications a day. One prevents her heart rate from spiking dangerously. Another controls excess fluid. Noon was diagnosed with adult-onset Still’s disease, a rare inflammatory arthritis that left her crawling to the bathroom in pain and unable to work for eight years.
When Noon lost private insurance and applied for Michigan Medicaid in 2025, the state denied her. An attorney who helped Noon overturn the denial said it came down to an IT error in Deloitte’s system.
“I can’t afford my medical care. I have to have insurance.”
Marie Noon, Michigan Medicaid applicant, KFF Health News, July 21, 2026
Noon paid hundreds of dollars out of pocket for medications while her appeal worked through the system. She eventually returned to work, but only because she could reverse the denial. Many disabled people cannot.
Trump’s New Medicaid Law Amplifies Existing System Failures
The federal Medicaid law passed in 2025 added work requirements and more frequent eligibility redeterminations starting in 2027. For people whose disabilities are already being miscoded by Deloitte’s system, those additional checkpoints create more opportunities for wrongful denials.
A system that incorrectly categorizes someone as non-disabled will now subject them to work requirements they legally should be exempt from. Appealing those decisions requires legal help most enrollees do not have.
Michigan is not an outlier. Because Deloitte holds contracts across at least 25 states, the same eligibility logic errors can affect millions of disabled Medicaid enrollees simultaneously, with no single state’s oversight catching the pattern.
What You Can Do Now
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Call your U.S. senators at (202) 224-3121 and ask them to request a Government Accountability Office audit of Deloitte’s Medicaid eligibility systems across all 25 states. Cite the KFF Health News investigation published July 21, 2026.
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Contact your state Medicaid director. Find your state agency at medicaid.gov/about-us/contact-us and ask what oversight process exists for vendor IT errors that produce wrongful denials.
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If you or someone you know was wrongly denied Medicaid in Michigan, contact Michigan Legal Help at michiganlegalhelp.org to find a benefits attorney. Wrongful denials can be appealed, but deadlines apply.
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Contact the House Energy & Commerce Committee at (202) 225-2927 and ask members to hold oversight hearings on Deloitte’s state Medicaid contracts before work requirements take effect in January 2027.
Sources
KFF Health News: Deloitte-Run System Denied Michigan Medicaid Benefits to Disabled People NPR: Michigan Medicaid System IT Errors Denied Disabled Applicants Coverage Medicaid.gov: State Medicaid Agency Contact Directory Michigan Legal Help: Benefits and Public Assistance Appeals Resources