As Medicaid eligibility assessments resume across the U.S., state officials are reminding Alaskans enrolled in Medicaid to make sure their contact information is up to date to help ensure fewer disruptions in coverage in the coming months.
Beginning this month, the state is resuming its annual reviews of Medicaid eligibility for thousands of Alaskans for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began as part of a return to federal pre-pandemic policies.
It’s a massive undertaking at a time when Alaska is still working through a backlog of food stamp and other public assistance applications that prompted a lawsuit and a sharp federal warning.
Updating contact information with the Alaska Division of Public Assistance can help the Medicaid renewal process go more smoothly and avoid losses in health care coverage, officials say.
“Over the next 12 months, the Division will be reaching out to households to verify certain information necessary to renew your Medicaid coverage,” state officials said in a statement. “And when it is your turn to renew, it is important that the Division has the right contact information to reach you to avoid any gaps in your health coverage.”
About one in three Alaskans are enrolled in Medicaid, the country’s largest public insurance program. Recipients include eligible low-income adults, children, pregnant women, elderly adults and people with disabilities. States administer the program, which is funded jointly by states and the federal government. Alaska’s Medicaid programs are called DenaliCare and Denali KidCare.
Under a provision in the federal health emergency that began in March 2020, Alaskans who might otherwise have lost their coverage were able to stay on Medicaid without needing to submit annual paperwork — even if their income rose high enough that they were no longer eligible for the program. Between April 2019 and December 2022, the number of Alaskans enrolled in Medicaid increased by about 22% to 260,000, part of a national increase in Medicaid enrollees during the pandemic.
Now the annual renewal process, which was paused during the pandemic, is restarting April 1 following an end to the federal moratorium.
Officials in Alaska have said they won’t know exactly how many people could lose coverage until they look at each case.
[Millions of Americans stand to lose Medicaid coverage as pandemic coverage protections end]
How Alaskans can be ready for the change
• Update your contact information by calling the state’s Medicaid Information Update Hotline, 1-833-441-1870, which is staffed by a team dedicated to process contact information changes and was established to reduce wait times through the virtual call center.
• Check your mail regularly and respond quickly if you receive a renewal form from the state requesting information. Responding promptly can help avoid gaps in coverage, state health officials say.
• Visit medicaidrenewals.alaska.gov to sign up for email updates and to access other resources related to the upcoming changes.
• Attend a webinar next Tuesday, April 4, from noon to 1 p.m. hosted by the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Project ECHO that allows you to ask questions of officials with the Division of Public Assistance and learn more about changing eligibility.
• Call 2-1-1 to be connected to a health care navigator who can also answer questions about health insurance coverage.