COVID-19 PHE Planning Update
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government declared a public health emergency (PHE). During the PHE, state agencies were required to provide health care coverage for all medical assistance programs, even if a member’s eligibility changed. This is known as the continuous coverage requirement. Congress passed a bill in December 2022 to end the medical assistance continuous coverage requirement in spring 2023.
Colorado will return to normal eligibility renewal processes for Health First Colorado and CHP+, with renewals due in May and noticing beginning in March. This process will take 12 months (14 months including noticing). Not all members will be renewed at the same time. Each member’s renewal month will align with their already established annual renewal month.
Separately, President Biden recently announced the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency will be May 11, 2023. The end of the PHE will mean rolling back certain flexibilities that were in place for our programs. Some changes we have made permanent while some changes will take place over time. We will be communicating to the providers or partners that are impacted by those changes and posting information on our partner resource center over the coming months.
As we return to normal operations, the Department is estimating that more than 325,000 Coloradans (about 20% of current members) may no longer qualify for our safety net coverage programs, and will therefore be disenrolled beginning in May and over the 12 months that follow. Given the magnitude of this transition of Coloradans from Medicaid to commercial coverage, we are asking all stakeholders to join the Department and the Polis-Primavera Administration in a shared effort to Keep Coloradans Covered.
Read the entire February message from Executive Director, Kim Bimestefer here.