MN DHS Announcement Regarding Medical Assistance

As you know, national news is reporting heavy coverage losses as Medicaid renewals resume across the country, with more than a million Americans getting disenrolled because they never returned renewal paperwork, not because they were determined to no longer meet Medicaid income requirements. DHS wants to take extra steps to ensure Minnesotans stay insured.

DHS is committed to ensuring that eligible Minnesotans keep their Medicaid coverage, known in Minnesota as Medical Assistance. It’s a top priority for the Governor, the State, Counties and Tribes and the agency. The goal is for zero eligible Minnesotans to lose coverage, and we are doing as much as we can to make that happen. It’s critical for the health of enrollees, their families and communities, public health, our health care infrastructure, the bottom dollar and more.

On June 12, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) shared new strategies states can use to avoid the loss of coverage for eligible enrollees and strongly encouraged states to utilize them. DHS is interested in particular in the strategy that gives Minnesota the ability to delay disenrollments due to administrative reasons, such as failure to return paperwork, for one month to conduct further enrollee outreach. We have submitted a request to CMS to hold these types of disenrollments for the first group of METS enrollees due for renewal (the July cohort) until Aug. 1 instead of closing them July 1. Those determined ineligible for coverage will still lose Medical Assistance July 1. However, those losing coverage due to missing paperwork will be kept open for an additional month.

This new strategy for METS enrollees with a July renewal month is not yet final. We still need CMS authorization. However, we feel confident this will move forward.

DHS has already delayed these kinds of procedural disenrollments for MAXIS enrollees – those 65 or older, blind or who have disabilities – under Minnesota’s mitigation plan with CMS.

We are delaying the July group of enrollees due to highly unique circumstances. Being first comes with disadvantages for the July cohort.

· We are using many new tactics to reach enrollees, but those with a July renewal won’t have the benefit of experience-based outreach improvements we make over the course of the next year. We will adjust these processes as renewals resume based on what we learn about what works best after a three-year pause in doing this work.

· Without taking action, those with a July renewal date will see their coverage end over a long holiday weekend, when they won’t likely be able to reach their worker for help if they need health care.

About 39,000 people, or 22,000 households, with a July renewal date have yet to turn in their renewal paperwork and are receiving notices that their coverage is closing. We want these Medical Assistance enrollees to know that they should still submit their renewal paperwork with this extension, and they need to do it ASAP. Any delays put them at risk for coverage gaps and headaches that will need to be remedied later. Getting the paperwork in now saves expense and burden for all involved. We want enrollees to help us help them and get their paperwork turned in right away. And we need your help to communicate these messages.

You likely have many questions about how this will be operationalized. We are working through the answers. We will share training and more information in our scheduled meetings in the coming week.

The data for the July group of enrollees shows some positive news: Minnesota is doing better than before the pandemic in getting paperwork returned. That means our outreach is working. However, the volume of work remaining for July renewals is much larger than it would be pre-pandemic because we have significantly more enrollees than we did before. We believe an extra month with more time for outreach will get more enrollees to complete their paperwork and limit coverage losses for those eligible for public health care programs. We need more help from you to do this outreach.

We know this adjustment creates extra steps and more work for all of us. We also know it’s the right thing to do for the people we serve.

My sincere thanks for all the new innovations and hard work that you and your staff are doing to retain all eligible enrollees,

Julie Marquardt

Interim Assistant Commissioner and State Medicaid Director | Health Care Administration
Minnesota Department of Human Services

mn.gov/dhs