What you need to know about Nevada Medicaid’s pandemic-era protection ending
After Congress moved to protect people from losing their Medicaid coverage during the pandemic, those protections may now be coming to an end.
In April, this pandemic-era protection for Medicaid ended, and checking for eligibility began.
It’s an issue that Dan Tsai, deputy administrator for Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, raised in a call Tuesday morning, saying that many people are not aware that this rule has ended and that they must renew their coverage for Medicaid, the federal-state health care insurance program that helps low-income people cover health costs.
Tsai says that the Center’s main concern is that everybody in the country has maintained access to healthcare coverage.
Tsai stated that there are high numbers of Medicaid disenrollment being seen across the country, but it is due to “procedural reasons” and not due to no longer being eligible because of a change in income. These procedural reasons include not responding to mailings or phone calls due to a change in address, or out-of-date contact information.
“We want to ensure that everyone has coverage,” Tsai said. “Whether that is through Obamacare or employer coverage. We are taking our monitoring and oversight responsibilities very seriously to ensure the states are doing all they can.”
Nevada Health Link has been at work to make sure that people are aware of these potential changes in their coverage.
According to a May press release sent by Nevada Health Link, starting in April, the first wave of recipients will be receiving their renewal packets in the mail. Those who did not respond or who no longer qualify based on income or other factors will lose their benefits starting June 1, 2023.
Nevada Health Link has encouraged those seeking to renew their coverage to update their contact information with the Division of Welfare and Supportive Services and to await a renewal packet in the mail.
This process of redetermining coverage for Nevadans will take 12 months, meaning that people will have until June 2024 to renew their Medicaid coverage.
Contact Kiara Adams at kadams@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-0399. Follow Kiara Adams at @kiadams101 on Twitter.