PHOENIX — More than three years after it ended, the country's public health emergency for the coronavirus pandemic will end.
"Basically Covid-19 after tomorrow will be treated like influenza or strep throat," said former state health director Will Humble.
The public health emergency allowed the federal government to free up money to fight the pandemic. It allowed the federal government to pay for tests, vaccines, and care to fight the virus.
Humble said if someone is uninsured, then they will have to pay for COVID tests and vaccines out of their own pocket.
"For people who have health insurance they probably won't notice anything," Humble said.
However, Medicaid will see an overhaul to its system.
“For Medicaid enrolled members and Medicaid program, it is a drastic change in how we have been operating for the past three years,” said Heidi Capriotti, spokesperson for Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System.
For the past three years, federal money and guidelines have kept anyone who at one point qualified for Medicaid during the pandemic on the program.
"Even if they went back to work and was over income or ran their renewal and they didn’t respond to our request for information we did not disenroll anyone," Capriotti said.
However, beginning on April 1, that pandemic-era policy expired.
“We are redetermining eligibility for all 2.5 million enrolled AHCCCS members. This is a big job and will take 12 months,” Capriotti said.
Capriotti said folks on Medicaid should be notified a month before their eligibility is examined. She said to respond to requests for information to make sure that anyone eligible for the care stays on the program.
“The last thing we want to see is someone discontinued from AHCCCS enrollment just because they didn’t respond to our request for information,” Capriotti said.
AHCCCS has resources to help folks in this situation.
Members can update their contact information by logging into their account at this website. A chatbot on this site can answer 30 common renewal questions.
Capriotti recommends doing these three things.
- Make sure your mailing address, phone number, and email address on file are correct at www.healthearizonaplus.gov. Login or call Health-e-Arizona Plus at 1-855-HEA-PLUS (1-855-432-7587), Monday through Friday 7 a.m. - 6 p.m. Review the Updating Your Contact Information flier English / Spanish to learn how to update your contact information in Health-e-Arizona PLUS.
- ALTCS members need to call 1-888-621-6880 to update their contact information or to get help with renewals. Sign up for text or email alerts from AHCCCS. Learn how in this flier!
- Check their mailbox for a letter from AHCCCS about a renewal of coverage. Respond to any requests from AHCCCS for more information so the agency can accurately determine eligibility.