• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
California Health Advocates

California Health Advocates

  • Contact
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Contact
    • Our Team
    • Mission
    • Education Services
    • About HICAP
    • Press
    • Testimonials
  • MEDICARE COUNSELING
  • Fact Sheets
  • Topics
    • The Basics
    • Prescription Drugs
    • Low-Income Help
    • Medigap
    • Medicare Advantage
    • Other Health Insurance
    • Appeals
    • Billing & Claims
    • Disabilities
    • Long-Term Care
    • Tribal Nations & Medicare
    • Health Care Reform
    • Advocacy & Policy
    • Glossary
  • Fraud & Abuse
  • Medicare Complaints
  • Blog
  • Donate

Medi-Cal Eligibility Renewals Start April 1 – Actions to Keep Your Medi-Cal

California Health Advocates > Low-Income help > Medi-Cal Eligibility Renewals Start April 1 – Actions to Keep Your Medi-Cal

Posted by Karen Joy Fletcher on February 24, 2023

eligibility renewals, asian granddaughter and grandmother smiling outside

Over 15.4 million Californians have Medi-Cal coverage, and, of California’s 6.4 million Medicare beneficiaries, 25% of them are dually eligible for Medicare and Medi-Cal. While Medicare is primary for these beneficiaries, Medi-Cal provides essential wrap-around coverage for Medicare’s gaps, including coverage for prescription drugs not covered by Medicare, hearing aids, dental care, ambulance services, nursing home care and long term care services and supports. Therefore making sure those dually eligible keep their Medi-Cal benefits through the upcoming eligibility renewals/redetermination process is key for their quality and continuity of care.

One of the best ways people can help ensure they keep their Medi-Cal is to make sure the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) can reach them. This will prevent any lapse in coverage. DHCS’s webpage, Keep Your Medi-Cal, has three simple tips:

  1. Update your information – See the webpage, Keep Your Medi-Cal, for specifics on where to update your information.
    Log into your account to make sure Medi-Cal has your current:
    –Address
    –Phone number
    –Email address
  2. Sign up for updates – You can sign up for updates on Medi-Cal renewals via email and/or text on the webpage, Keep Your Medi-Cal.
  3. Check your mailbox – Counties will mail you a letter about your Medi-Cal eligibility. You may need to complete a renewal form. If you’re sent a renewal form, submit your information by mail, phone, in-person, or online, so you don’t lose your coverage.

Why are Medi-Cal renewals happening starting April 1?

During the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), the federal government temporarily waived Medicaid requirements for annual eligibility redeterminations. As a result, Medi-Cal members kept their health coverage continuously during the PHE. On December 23, 2022, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, an omnibus funding package that separates the Medicaid continuous coverage requirement from the federal COVID-19 PHE and provides a fixed end date for the Medicaid continuous coverage guarantee – March 31, 2023.

For more information, see our previous article, Medicaid Continuous Coverage Ends March 31st.

Filed Under: Low-Income help, Professionals

Previous Post: « Medicare Does Not Offer $2,800+ Flex Cards for Food
Next Post: Save Medicare Act – Only Medicare is Medicare »

About Karen Joy Fletcher

Our blogger Karen Joy Fletcher is CHA's Communications Director. With a Masters in Public Health from UC Berkeley, she is the online "public face" of the organization, provides technical expertise, writing and research on Medicare and other health care issues. She is responsible for digital content creation, management of CHA’s editorial calendar, and managing all aspects of CHA’s social media presence. She loves being a "communicator" and enjoys networking and collaborating with the passionate people and agencies in the health advocacy field. See her current articles.

Related Posts

  • Public Health Emergency “Unwinding” Begins
  • Do You Need Help with Internet Costs?
  • CHA Supports SB 311 – Simplifying Medicare Part A & QMB Enrollment
  • Medicaid Continuous Enrollment to End as of March 31, 2023

Primary Sidebar

Change Text Size

  • 100%  110%  120%  130%  

News & Blog Categories

  • Medicare Advantage
  • Low-Income help
  • Medicare & Disabilities
  • Medicare Basics
  • Prescription Drugs
  • Medicare & Other Health Insurance
  • Medicare Billings, Claims & Appeals
  • Health Care Disparities
  • Fraud & Abuse

—

  • COVID-19
  • Resources
  • Health Care Reform
  • Long-Term Care
  • CHA News

—

  • Advocacy & Policy
  • Letters and Comments to Policymakers
  • Legislative and Congressional Testimony
  • Policy Briefs

Send Us Comment

Do you have comments or concerns about your Medicare coverage? Issues regarding getting your needed prescriptions from your Part D plan, or a Medicare Advantage plan representative's marketing practices? Let us know at comments@cahealthadvocates.org.

We are dedicated to making Medicare's program work well for all beneficiaries. Your feedback from your own or your client's concerns and experiences with Medicare, will guide our Medicare advocacy efforts with key policy and decision-makers in both California and nationally with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Congress.

Archives

Donate Today

Footer

Sign up for our newsletter

Choose the news you'd like to receive

Important Links

  • About Us
  • Fact Sheets
  • Blog
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Privacy Notice
  • Cookie Policy
  • Accessibility Statement

Follow Us

Copyright © 2023 · California Health Advocates · Web Design by TWK Web and Print Design · Log in