[Text On Screen – Medicaid Redeterminations]
[BRAD ANDERSON SPEAKING ON SCREEN]
BRAD ANDERSON: And thank you all for joining. So I'm Brad Anderson. It's great to be with you here today.
[Text On Screen – What is Medicaid Redetermination? Medicaid redetermination, also called renewal or recertification, is the process states use to evaluate enrollees continued eligibility for Medicaid coverage. Medicaid eligibility review has been paused during the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), Medicaid termination notifications will resume as early as April 1st, up to 15M people may no longer be eligible for Medicaid coverage because of the redetermination process and likely will seek health insurance from another source, including employer-sponsored coverage. Redeterminations must be complete by May 31, 2024]
As you are all aware, Medicaid redeterminations have been paused during the COVID-19 national public health emergency. This is due to the Family's First Coronavirus Response Act and the additional federal Medicaid funding that states are receiving during the public health emergency. In exchange for that enhanced funding, states have had to maintain continuous enrollment in Medicaid, meaning an individual cannot have their Medicaid coverage terminated.
BRAD ANDERSON VOICEOVER: There are some exceptions that include like moving out of state and beneficiary requests to terminate coverage, but by and large, if you had Medicaid coverage, you were able to keep it during the public health emergency. The Medicaid continuous enrollment required was decoupled from that public health emergency, and then will resume on April 1st of this year. So what does that mean for all of us? Our first priority is to help people maintain Medicaid coverage for members if they still qualify.
[BRAD ANDERSON SPEAKING ON SCREEN]
UnitedHealthcare is taking an active role by working closely with our state partners, pharmacies, retailers, care providers, and community organizations and as a managed care organization, we have an opportunity to provide information, feedback, and insights to our partners and customers to work with them to adjust as things develop. We recognize that not everyone will continue to qualify for Medicaid, and UHC is uniquely positioned to help individuals who no longer qualify, find the right health coverage to meet their needs and financial needs. Where individuals have Medicaid within UnitedHealthcare community and state, we are communicating directly with members and conducting general consumer outreach to educate them on what they need to do to keep their Medicaid coverage and educate them on other plan offerings if they are no longer eligible for Medicaid. We are focused on getting people the right information at the right time to maintain continuous, comprehensive coverage. The initiatives our team is pursuing to help assure continuous coverage and support our state partners include direct outreach to members who are joining with states and community organizations to identify those at risk, to help them retain their benefits. Our teams will partner with providers, national retailers, and pharmacies to educate those consumers about the redetermination process and probably most importantly, for this audience, we will engage with employers to extend annual enrollment periods and drive education efforts to employees who are eligible for coverage. So in short, we think approximately 18 million people will no longer be eligible for Medicaid coverage and will likely be seeking insurance from other sources, including employer-sponsored coverage. Next slide please.
[Text On Screen – When is Medicaid Redetermination happening? States are outreaching to members as early as February and continuing throughout 2023. Georgetown University has published an unwinding tracker with links to documents and/or websites that can be accessed at https:ccf.georgetown.edu/2022/09/06/state-unwinding-tracker]
So when is Medicaid redeterminations happening?
BRAD ANDERSON VOICEOVER: States will begin to outreach to members as early as this month, but the majority will take place in April or May. States will begin terming members approximately 30 to 60 days after they begin that outreach. And we have some additional information related to each state for those who are curious, and Georgetown University has published an unwinding tracker that links documents and websites for all 50 states. And I think we're going to put that information in the chat. It should also be noted that all redetermination should be completed by May 31st of next year.
[BRAD ANDERSON SPEAKING ON SCREEN]
So May 31st of 2024, all states should be through their Medicaid redetermination process. So if we flip to the next slide, and you get into the numbers, so about 84 million people are covered by Medicaid today, and that's the current Medicaid market.
[Text On Screen –84M people are covered by Medicaid today, 18M members went on Medicaid during the pandemic, 40% will remain eligible for Medicaid, 40% (6M) will be eligible for employer coverage, 20% will be eligible for subsidized plans]
That number is roughly 18 million greater than it was during the start of the pandemic. If we assume that a lot of those are going to fall out through Medicaid redetermination, we anticipate that roughly 40% through working with those members, will re-qualify for Medicaid. Roughly another 40%, or 6 million people, will be eligible for employer-sponsored coverage. And then the remaining, so around 20%, will likely be eligible for individual and family plans that are subsidized.
[Text On Screen – What you should know, Background information: Losing Medicaid is a qualifying life event which triggers a special enrollment period to sign up for eligible coverage, Uninsured employees are less likely to seek or receive care, especially preventative care. This can lead to worse health outcomes, absences from work, lower productivity, and higher overall costs. Actions you can take: Access materials from uhc.com broker or employer site, Send a communication to all employees, Leverage pre-built content to share with employees that could be losing Medicaid coverage, Encourage employees to enroll if they are eligible for employer-provided coverage. United Healthcare is committed to ensure continuity of coverage while working to fulfill the mission of helping people live healthier lives and making the health system work better for everyone. Learn more at http://uhc.com/staycovered]
BRAD ANDERSON VOICEOVER: So flipping to the next slide, and we talk about what can we do to help employers through this influx of 6 million new members? Communicate, communicate, communicate. Let your employees know that Medicaid redeterminations is a qualifying event that allows them to enroll during a special enrollment period. We see it as a critical imperative for the system that as many of these individuals regain coverage as possible, for a whole host of reasons. In particular, uninsured employees are less likely to seek or receive care, especially preventative care. This can lead to worsening health outcomes, absence from work, lower productivity, and higher overall cost. By communicating details around the redetermination process to employees and outlining how employer-sponsored coverage can help them stay covered, we believe we can help mitigate that risk. To make this as easy as possible for you all, we have created collateral that is available for you to send out to your employee base. All of these materials are housed on the broker employer sites of uhc.com and we have a dedicated website, uhc.com/staycovered, which is also a great resource for materials and information.
[BRAD ANDERSON SPEAKING ON SCREEN]
As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to your UHC rep as they are all well versed in Medicaid redeterminations. I'm now going to turn the call over to my good friend Jennifer Colvin, ENI’s chief marketing officer, to comment further. Jennifer?
JENNIFER COLVIN VOICEOVER: Thank you, Brad.
[Text On Screen – Supporting brokers, consultants, employers and employees, 1. Need-to-know details for employers: Brokers, consultants and employers can access FAQs and other regularly updated materials related to Medicaid redetermination, including how UnitedHealthcare can provide support throughout 2023. 2. Information to share with employees: Keep affected employees updated on their options to stay covered, including providing access to information and tools on UHC.com]
When the pandemic struck in spring of 2020, it mobilized our leaders and our marketing and communications teams at UnitedHealthcare. We worked to bring you information on the changes of COVID-19 and what that did for your health plans and your employees.
[JENNIFER COLVIN SPEAKING ON SCREEN]
We are ready to provide a similar level of support as we look at Medicaid redeterminations. We know this topic may be newer to many of you, and we're here to help make you make sense of it all and the employees we serve. There are two primary areas where we will be providing marketing and communications. The first, is materials for brokers and consultants to share with their clients and for our UnitedHealthcare teams to share with all of you. The second, is information to share with employees. We know they will have questions and we know they will look to their employers for answers. We will continue equipping you with information and tools to share with employees as they want to stay covered. Next slide.
[Text On Screen – Ongoing education and support from UnitedHealthcare]
Here, we have some more specifics of the support that we are ready to share with you. First, for brokers and consultants and employers, there are flyers and website content that simplifies the redetermination process and makes it clear on what you need to know. We have information that's relevant nationally, but also, there are opportunities that we have to deliver state by state, content, as the redetermination process rolls out nationally.
JENNIFER COLVIN VOICEOVER: There are flyers in English and Spanish, with clear calls to action for employees on what to do next regarding their healthcare coverage. We also keep a set of FAQs, updated regularly, to help you answer your employee's questions. Uhc.com has a landing page for redeterminations that outlines coverage options, including employer-sponsored coverage.
[Text On Screen – Fliers and updated FAWs to keep employees informed]
There's a tool on the site that helps people explore their options and what to consider for their situation.
[Text On Screen – National/local resources for brokers, consultants, employers]
You've told us in the past that UnitedHealthcare briefings were a big help during COVID.
[Text On Screen – Fliers and updated FAWs to keep employees informed]
We're continuing to bring leaders forward to support you in 2023 for redetermination and beyond. And we have a website and we will post the replay of this webinar, but also, you can see past webinars there as well.
[Text On Screen – Medicaid Redetermination landing page (UHC.com)]
Of course, always reach out to your UnitedHealthcare representative for information for you and for your employees that may be affected by redeterminations.
[Text On Screen – Access to past and future UnitedHealthcare Briefings]
Thank you for your time today.
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