U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has sent letters to U.S. governors encouraging them to be flexible to help avoid health care coverage loss for children and families as Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) renewals resume.
States are required to restart Medicaid renewals after renewals were stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the coronavirus pandemic, “states were required to renew coverage for people with Medicaid or CHIP coverage at least once a year and to disenroll individuals who no longer qualified for coverage,” the “Keeping People Covered As States Restart Routine Medicaid Renewals” resource said.
Over the next 12 months, people covered through Medicaid or CHIP are required to renew their coverage.
“Nobody who is eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program should lose coverage simply because they changed addresses, didn’t receive a form, or didn’t have enough information about the renewal process,” Becerra said in a release. “We encourage states to utilize all available flexibilities to ensure children and families don’t lose coverage. We also urge states to join us in partnering with local governments, community organizations, and schools to reach people eligible for Medicaid and CHIP where they are.”
Becerra’s letter to governors gave suggestions on how states can help people avoid losing health care coverage because of administrative processes. New options include allowing states to use managed care plans to help people complete forms.
“These new options build on existing flexibilities we have already offered states, such as: Spreading renewals for all populations out over 12 months, which will provide more time to run a smooth process and prevent systems from getting backlogged,” the letter said. “Maximizing the use of data sources, such as renewing individuals on the basis of their eligibility for other programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)… Partnering with managed care plans and using data available from the United States Postal Service to update people’s contact information so that they actually receive the renewal forms states are sending out.”
Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in the release that CMS will ensure people have “affordable, high-quality health coverage.”
“I am deeply concerned about eligible losing coverage and am urging states and partners to adopt the strategies we have outlined to help people renew their Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Plan coverage if they are eligible or link them to new health coverage,” Brooks-LaSure said in the release. “We will continue to monitor and work collaboratively with states, advocates, the health care industry and others to keep people covered.”
