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Utahns’ pandemic-era behavioral health benefits could end

By Jamie Lampros - Special to the Standard-Examiner | Mar 25, 2023

Isaac Hale, Daily Herald file photo

The Utah Department of Workforce Services’ Administrative Offices stands Thursday, March 26, 2020, in Salt Lake City.

OGDEN — Thousands of behavioral health patients in Northern Utah may soon find their Medicaid benefits at risk.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Medicaid automatically renewed coverage for 270,000 Utahns who receive mental and substance use treatment, but now that the crisis has ceased, those benefits may go away.

“If you have been on Expansion Medicaid or Targeted Adult Members Medicaid, you need to call the (Utah) Division of Workforce Services and ask when your plan is up for review,” said Michelle Jenson, assistant director at Weber Human Services.

In February, Medicaid sent out mass mailings to all 270,000 individuals whose eligibility was held open. But Jenson said a lot of them are transitory and Medicaid may not have their correct address, phone numbers or emails, so it’s important, she added, for people to be proactive before it’s too late.

“The first terminations will happen on May 1,” Jenson said. “They are going through the March reviews right now and will make a determination of which cases need to close.”

Jenson said although she only has state numbers, she believes around 20,000 residents from Weber and Morgan counties will be affected by the Medicaid unwinding process.

“There’s a real urgency for people to find out when they are up for review and to update all of their information,” she said. “This has never happened in such large masses before, and while we are all grateful for the additional coverage, it’s going to be pretty painful for us to tell people in such large numbers that they’re no longer covered.”

Weber Human Services Director Kevin Eastman said if people are booted off Medicaid without knowing, they may come in for their appointment only to be turned away.

“People will be coming here for an appointment and be told this disappointing news and we may even have to say, ‘We literally cannot see you today because there’s no way to pay,'” Eastman said. “It could be crisis-producing for some people.”

Eastman also said Medicaid has the ability to share when the expanded population will have their review, but they are saying they are short staffed and too busy.

“We could get covered people in before their review comes due and help them find out if they will remain having coverage or not, but Medicaid won’t tell us that information,” he said. “We find out that they have been cut off when they come in for their appointment, we look them up and the state system tells us they are not eligible.”

Eastman said there is no funding to allow patients to come in for the appointment they are expecting.

“Poor customer service that we have no control of,” he said.

To find out when you are up for review and to update your information, call DWS at 1-866-435-7414 or Medicaid at 1-866-608-9422.

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