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Reminder: Keep Your Medicaid Case File up to Date

Catharine Arranz

When certain life events happen, such as moving, getting a new job, or having a baby, Medicaid recipients need to be sure to update their caseworker about the change. Reporting these changes is not only a requirement to keep Medicaid coverage active, but it can save consumers time and effort down the road. For example, if a person moves and forgets to update their address with the County Assistance Office (CAO), they will not get their renewal packet and their Medicaid coverage will be stopped.

It is especially important to keep case files up-to-date as the end of the COVID-19 related Public Health Emergency (PHE) approaches, which will likely happen sometime early in 2023. The federal Department of Health and Human Services has previously stated that they will give states 60-days’ notice of the end of the PHE (i.e., whether the PHE is being extended again). 

When the PHE ends, the state Department of Human Services is expected to end Medicaid coverage for people who no longer qualify, as well as for those who do not complete their renewal packet. This is why it is important to make sure that your case file and/or any changes to your situation are up to date with the CAO.

 

Here are ways you can update your Medicaid case file:

  1. Submit a change online through your MyCOMPASS account at www.compass.state.pa.us;
  2. Call the Statewide Customer Service Center at 1-877-395-8930. In Philadelphia, call 215-560-7226; or
  3. If you have contact information for your CAO caseworker, you may report the changes directly to them.

 

Below are the types of changes you must report to your CAO caseworker:

  • A new mailing address
  • A new job or a change of job
  • A change or expected change in residency (including plans to leave Pennsylvania or the county, even if you plan to return)
  • A change in U.S. citizen or immigration status 
  • Individuals moving in or out of your home (including friends, a newborn, or other relatives)
  • A change in marital status (including separation, divorce, remarriage, annulment, or common-law marriage)
  • A change in earned income or unearned income, including if you get a lump sum (i.e. lottery winnings, inheritance) 
    (NOTE: this change must be reported by the tenth day of the month AFTER the individual receives the income.) 
  • A change in income-expense deductions, such as ATM or bank fees
  • A change in expected medical expenses that were used for eligibility
  • The purchase or sale of real or personal property (including tools, equipment and stock)
  • Buying, selling, trading, or converting bank accounts, life insurance, vehicles or other resources
  • A change in student status
  • A pregnancy or the end of a pregnancy
  • A change in medical insurance coverage (such as Medicare or commercial insurance)
  • A change in a condition that was used to consider you disabled for the purposes of qualifying for Medicaid (for example, an improvement in a medical condition)
  • A change that requires the CAO to allow good cause for stopping Medical Assistance for Workers with Disabilities (MAWD) monthly premium payments (for example, a change in or loss of employment, or a health problem)
  • Any other changes that may affect eligibility

 

PHLP will continue to keep consumers and advocates informed of any updates around the end of the PHE as we learn them.