HARRISBURG — This week, Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) Acting Secretary Dr. Val Arkoosh affirmed in an op-ed that the Shapiro Administration is ready for the upcoming federal changes to Medicaid renewals that will take effect April 1, 2023.

Medicaid recipients are required to renew their coverage every year in order to keep their coverage. Under federal rules during the pandemic, DHS still sent annual renewals to recipients but their health coverage did not change even if they became ineligible; this is known as continuous coverage.

A recent federal law has ended this temporary requirement that allowed coverage to continue. Starting on April 1, Medicaid recipients will need to, once again, begin completing annual renewals on-time to maintain their coverage. All Medicaid recipients will need to go through a renewal process around the time of their normal renewal date in the next 12 months to determine if they are still eligible for Medicaid. In some cases, DHS will use recent available case data to automatically complete the renewal. Those households will receive a letter affirming that their renewal is complete and they are eligible for another year of coverage. When that information is not available, DHS will send renewal information to households which must be completed and returned to DHS within a specified timeframe.

Acting Secretary Arkoosh emphasized that, despite the April 1 effective date for the end of continuous coverage, no Pennsylvanian will automatically lose their health coverage without first having an opportunity to renew or update their case. She also called on Pennsylvanians to help DHS spread the word in their communities using resources like flyers, social media posts, and web graphics that are available on the DHS’ website at https://www.dhs.pa.gov/.