North Dakota Health and Human Services (HHS) is urging North Dakotans who receive ND Medicaid renewal forms, also known as review forms, to complete and return them to a human service zone office within 30 days to ensure continued coverage, if they still qualify.
On May 31, about 13,100 ND Medicaid members were due for a renewal and only about one in three members who were sent a renewal form returned it, which means 4,421 people were disenrolled on May 31 even though many may still qualify for coverage.
“Our goal is to maintain coverage for all people who remain eligible with a particular emphasis on children and people with disabilities,” said HHS interim Medical Services Division Director Krista Fremming. “To a certain extent, there have always been Medicaid members who have lost coverage because they did not return paperwork needed to determine if they still qualified. We want to take this opportunity to make sure members who qualify can still access health care when they need it.”
HHS’ May data also shows that about seven out of 10 members who did return their renewal form still qualified for coverage.
“The data shows a strong reason why households should return their renewal forms in the month they are due,” she said. “We are also reminding members to turn in their renewal forms as soon as possible, to avoid the potential problem of being disenrolled if they still qualify.”
HHS’ goal is to ensure that North Dakotans do not lose Medicaid coverage because they didn’t verify their information. Individuals who were disenrolled have 90 days to return their renewal form and provide required information. If they qualify after a review, ND Medicaid will back date their coverage to when they were disenrolled.
Auto-Renewal Process
North Dakota implemented an auto-renewal process to make it easier to verify if an individual still qualifies for coverage using federal income data and other approved data sources. If ND Medicaid cannot auto-renew an individual’s coverage, they will receive a renewal form asking them for more information.
Renewal forms are mailed out around the 20th of each month and are due within 30 days. They must be completed and returned either online through the Self-Service Portal, by mail or email or in-person at a human service zone office.
HHS has created a webpage, hhs.nd.gov/StayCoveredND, that has information about Medicaid renewals and how members can update their contact information, so they receive important information about their coverage.
Members who no longer qualify for ND Medicaid have other health coverage options available through the federal Health Insurance Marketplace. ND Navigators offer free application assistance and can be contacted at (800) 233-1737 or ndcpd.org/ndnavigator.
Regular Medicaid renewals began in April 2023. Over the course of the next 12 months, human service zone offices will need to review eligibility for about 137,000 North Dakotans enrolled in ND Medicaid or the Medicaid Expansion program.
Medicaid provides health care coverage to eligible low-income adults, children, pregnant women, elderly adults and people with disabilities. The program is jointly funded between states and the federal government. States administer the program based on federal requirements.