Health & Wellness

Millions of Illinoisans on Medicaid Need to Take This Step or Risk Losing Coverage

The process is called redetermination. Roughly 3.9 million people on Medicaid in Illinois have to verify their eligibility or risk losing coverage

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Healthcare experts across Illinois are working to make sure everyone enrolled in Medicaid is aware the renewal process is underway for the first time in three years.

“During the public health emergency, their redetermination process was suspended. And so now at the public health emergency is over, that usual process of verifying each year that individuals who are on Medicaid are eligible to remain on Medicaid is occurring,” said Dr. Derek Robinson, VP and chief medical officer for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois.

Dr. Markeita Moore, a pediatrician with Advocate Medical Group in Evergreen Park, has been asking her patients’ families if they know that Medicaid eligibility checks are underway.

“Some of them have been aware and some haven’t. Some of them did not provide updated contact information, because they haven't been through this type of process before,” Moore said.

The process is called redetermination. Roughly 3.9 million people on Medicaid in Illinois have to verify their eligibility or risk losing coverage.

“It's roughly about 1.6 million children that could be affected by it,” Moore said.

The renewal process begins with a letter you should receive in the mail from the State of Illinois.

If a “Part A” form is inside, the state has already verified your eligibility and no actions need to be taken. The participant will automatically be reenrolled in a Medicaid plan.

“One of the benefits that the Department of Healthcare & Family Services has taken is using some programs that verify that individuals already meet the criteria for Medicaid eligibility, based upon other services that they're already receiving,” Robinson said.

Robinson is more concerned about the people who are receiving “Part B” forms, which require paperwork be submitted to the state.

“You can do it either by phone, you can do it by mail, or they can provide that information through the web, but it's really important that people don't miss it, because we want to make sure that folks maintain access to their health insurance benefits,” Robinson said.

The state began sending those letters in April for the the first batch of renewals. If a participant hasn’t already received a letter in the mail, their renewal date is likely later in the year.

“The best thing customers can do is to be ready to renew by going to ‘Manage My Case’ at www.abe.illinois.gov,” said Sergio Obregon, special assistant to the director of the Illinois Dept. of Healthcare and Family Services. “They can check their address. They can check for their renewal date.”

Illinois has decided to spread out its Medicaid renewals over a 12-month period, so there are multiple renewal dates during that time period.

“The state has set it up that way so that we don't have masses of individuals that fall off of coverage that still need coverage. So it's coming, and it's coming over that 12 month period, which I think is a really smart approach,” Robinson said.

Source: CCH-REDE_FAQ-Providers-EN.pdf (cookcountyhealth.org)

While the timeline does include a due date, with the first one set for June 1, 2023, the state is offering a grace period of about two weeks after each due date.

“Technically, they'll have until the 15th of June, to submit something electronically or via telephone, or to the Family Community Resource Center, operated by the Department of Human Services, or if they mail it, it has to get to us by the 15th in order for it to be registered,” Obregon said.

“If we don't have that by the 15th, on the 16th we will start that case going through the cancellation process. And if that case goes through the cancellation process, the first date of loss of coverage will be effective July 1, 2023,” said Obregon.

The single most important thing a Medicaid participant can do right now to ensure they don’t risk losing coverage is making sure their mailing address is correct.

“It is critical that customers update their contact information on file with the Illinois Medicaid program so that redetermination materials are sent to the correct and current address,” Obregon said.

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