Dear NJ FamilyCare community,
I hope you have enjoyed a happy and healthy holiday season. As many of you know, we had been anticipating an announcement from the federal government about the end of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE). Late in 2022, we began to hear that Congress might separate the Medicaid continuous enrollment requirement from the ongoing PHE – and they in fact did so in late December, in the omnibus spending bill signed into law by President Biden on December 29, 2022. As a result, while the PHE continues, states are now required to resume Medicaid eligibility processes beginning April 1, 2023.
We are anticipating guidance from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in early January, and we will be prepared to share an update with you at our February 1 meeting of the Medical Assistance Advisory Council. We will also be updating our StayCoveredNJ website, removing references to the end of the PHE and clearly stating the April 1 date for when eligibility processes will resume. Please visit our Community Toolkit page for posters in English, Spanish, and 19 other languages.
In the meantime, here are the two most important things for our NJ FamilyCare members to know:
- Make sure NJ FamilyCare/Medicaid has your correct mailing address
- Members can confirm or update their contact information by calling NJ FamilyCare at 1-800-701-0710 (TTY: 711). NJ FamilyCare will use this information to communicate with members about their healthcare coverage.
- Respond to mail from NJ FamilyCare/Medicaid
- Members need to look for and respond to mail from the State of New Jersey or their local County Board of Social Services. If NJ FamilyCare requests information, they need to respond right away to avoid a gap in their NJ FamilyCare coverage.
On behalf of the whole DMAHS team, I wish you happiness and health in 2023. We look forward to working together with you to serve people the best way possible in the months ahead!
Jennifer Langer Jacobs (she/her)
Assistant Commissioner, Division of Medical Assistance & Health Services
NJ Department of Human Services