The federal government has ordered a majority of states to pause disenrollments of Medicaid beneficiaries for procedural reasons during the ongoing eligibility redeterminations process, the Health and Human Services Department announced Thursday.

From the start ofMedicaid redeterminations in April through Sept. 20, almost 7.2 million people have been removed from the rolls, more than seven in 10 of them for procedural reasons, such as a state not having current contact information, according to data compiled by KFF

HHS estimates that 500,000 people who lost Medicaid or Children's Health Insurance Program coverage because of shortcomings in their home states' enrollment systems will regain benefits as a result of the action announced Thursday.