Maintain Your Medicaid

By Nida Imam, 2023 Summer Associate with Legal Aid's Health and Opportunity Practice Group 

Medicaid recipients must complete a redetermination this year to keep their benefits. Avoid legal problems, such as a loss of coverage and unpaid medical bills, by preparing for and completing your Medicaid redetermination.

For the past few years, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) called for a Public Health Emergency (PHE) due to the COVID-19 pandemic and prevented states from disenrolling people from Medicaid. Medicaid recipients during this time did not need to renew their eligibility and qualified for Medicaid regardless of income.

With the end of the PHE, Medicaid redetermination will again require proof of income eligibility, as was the case before the pandemic. Ohio resumed normal operations earlier in 2023, and Medicaid benefit terminations and disenrollment started in April 2023.

Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) should mail renewal notices 90 to 120 days before they are due to be completed. To continue receiving Medicaid benefits, be sure to take the following steps:

• Update contact information with your local Job and Family Services or by contacting ODM at 800.324.8680;
• Respond to the Medicaid renewal form when it comes in the mail;
• Send copies of the information requested from you before the deadline; and
• Keep a copy of all the documents submitted and write down the date they were mailed.

For Medicaid renewals, you may need to send copies of documents such as birth certificates, driver’s license/state IDs, pay stubs or tax returns, bank statements, proof of address, bills for housing, utilities and other expenses, medical records, and immigration status records. You must send the required documents early enough that they are received by the due date.

If recipients do not respond, they may lose their coverage even if they are still eligible. Parents should respond even if they are not eligible because their children could still qualify for Medicaid coverage.

If the local Department of Job and Family Services determines a person is NOT eligible for Medicaid and the person disagrees, they should immediately request a state hearing. The request for a hearing must be received within 90 days of the denial. If a person sends the hearing request within 15 days of when the notice was mailed, benefits and services will not stop or decrease until the hearing takes place and a decision is made. Learn more on the Ohio Department of Medicaid’s website, medicaid.ohio.gov.

People not eligible for Medicaid should check for health insurance coverage through their employer or through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace at healthcare.gov.

Get Covered Ohio is a collaborative effort to connect Ohioans to free information and assistance with exploring their health insurance options, enrolling in health coverage, and understanding their coverage. Learn more online at getcoveredohio.org, or by calling 833.628.4467.

This article was published in Legal Aid's newsletter, "The Alert" Volume 39, Issue 2, in September 2023. See full issue at this link: “The Alert”- Volume 39, Issue 2 – Legal Aid Society of Cleveland.