'Look for this blue envelope,' Massachusetts notifying residents who may lose Medicaid coverage

BOSTON - Spring cleaning is underway at Medicaid agencies across the country with hundreds of thousands of people's health insurance hanging in the balance.

The change comes after a pandemic-era policy keeping states from disenrolling members was lifted at the beginning of the month.

States, including Massachusetts, are going through their lists to determine who is and is not still eligible for Medicaid after three years of status quo.

MassHealth is the Commonwealth's Medicaid arm and said during the pandemic, it picked up roughly half-a-million participants sending the current number of people on MassHealth to 2.3 million people.

"We do expect to see our enrollment go down," said MassHealth Assistant Secretary Mike Levine. "There were a lot of people who became eligible for Medicaid in that time period who since then, have gained employment, who have income above the limit for MassHealth, and have access to their insurance through their employer."

Starting this week, blue envelopes from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services are being sent out to some MassHealth participants who will be asked to submit more information. The state pointed out that roughly half of its total membership will likely be automatically renewed. This process of mailing out redetermination envelopes is expected to last 12 months.

In the meantime, there is a sweeping grassroots effort underway to get the word out about the redetermination process.

Hannah Frigand of Healthcare For All Massachusetts said, "We will be working with canvassers to go door-to-door and tell people basically, look for this blue envelope and take action when you receive it. It could be that you get it this month, but it could be that you get it in a few months depending on when you last applied."

The Massachusetts Health Connector is the bridge between those who are not redetermined and their next options for coverage. The agency said they are able to connect folks with affordable private insurance that is often subsidized, in part.

"The Commonwealth has these programs so if you do not fit in one you might fit in the other," said Massachusetts Health Connector Executive Director Audrey Gasteier. "It's important for people to have that peace of mind that they can come and get covered. We don't want people to be alarmed in Massachusetts."