PHOENIX – Since the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) returned to the regular Medicaid renewal processes last April, 1.4 million Arizonans have maintained coverage and 18%, or 457,753, have been discontinued.
“Making sure Arizonans have health care coverage, whether that be through Medicaid, an employer, or from the Healthcare.gov marketplace, has always been our goal through the return to regular Medicaid renewals,” Carmen Heredia, AHCCCS cabinet executive officer, said. “Because of our team’s well-planned approach and tireless efforts, AHCCCS has met the requirements to determine eligibility for everyone who had been continued during the pandemic, and has done so with utmost efficiency.”
AHCCCS was able to “auto renew” 82% of the renewals initiated last month, meaning these renewals needed no additional information from the member.
“We have built new tools to make sure the return to regular Medicaid renewals was as smooth as possible for AHCCCS members,” Kristen Challacombe, deputy director of business operations, said. “This included new ability to text and email members when renewals were due, and building a new chatbot that can update contact information without a member having to log into their account and do it themselves.”
More than 67,900 members who have been disenrolled since April for not responding to the agency’s request for information have then completed their renewal within the 90-day window and had coverage reinstated without having to start a new application.
Find the renewals dashboard on the AHCCCS Return to Regular Renewals web page.
