Beginning October 2021, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) will begin terminating state-funded Medicaid coverage for individuals who are found ineligible for the program. There are roughly 2,400 state-funded Medicaid recipients at risk of termination; all will receive renewal packets giving them a chance to demonstrate eligibility before DHS takes action to terminate. It is vital that recipients complete their renewals on time and in full. State-funded Medical Assistance recipients are immigrants, and many have limited English proficiency. Many are also seniors and/or disabled. As a reminder, DHS now has many forms (PA60, application for benefits; PA600HC, application for healthcare only; and the PA 1663, Employability Assessment Form) translated into six languages—Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Arabic—and they can be found in the DHS Medical Assistance Eligibility Handbook.
The state’s decision to terminate state-funded coverage does not affect the majority of Medicaid enrollees, since most people are getting federally-funded Medicaid, which is still protected under the Federal Public Health Emergency (PHE) and its continuous coverage protections.
Individuals who believe their Medicaid coverage has been improperly stopped can call the Pennsylvania Health law Project Helpline at 1-800-274-3258 or email them at staff@phlp.org.