Helping eligible Texans keep their coverage

February 5, 2024 2 minute read

Ending continuous coverage

At the start of the pandemic, Congress passed a law requiring states to maintain continuous Medicaid coverage through the end of the public health emergency (PHE). In late 2022, it passed a second law delinking the continuous coverage requirement from the PHE, allowing states to begin disenrolling Medicaid recipients in April 2023. In response, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) began notifying Medicaid recipients that they must complete the redetermination process in April 2023. This process is used to determine whether recipients still meet Medicaid eligibility criteria.

Over the past year, UnitedHealthcare partnered with HHSC, health care providers, community-based organizations (CBOs) and others on strategies to support our members through the redetermination process. Our mission was simple -- to help eligible members maintain vital health care coverage.

Comprehensive outreach, education and support strategies

Our local and national teams have been there for what matters most to our members, providing outreach, education and support during reenrollment. Our multi-tiered strategies include:

Promoting redetermination literacy

Our local community outreach representatives and member advocates have:

Distributed over 220,000 educational flyers to network providers, CBOs and Medicaid families throughout Texas.
Completed over 1,400 redetermination “touches” (in-person visits, calls and emails) to educate over 360 network providers and 200 CBOs on redetermination requirements and events.

Providing application support

UnitedHealthcare has:

Enrolled 49 application assisters in HHSC’s Case Assistance Affiliate program, who have provided in-person and telephonic application support to UnitedHealthcare members throughout the state.
Participated in over 360 events and learning sessions across Texas to educate communities and provide application assistance to UnitedHealthcare members.

Reaching out to members

As seen in Figure 1, our local and national teams have made over 3 million direct outreach attempts to UnitedHealthcare members via calls, emails, text messaging, mail and real-time offers (RTOs) of support. Additionally, our service coordinators, complex care management teams and member advocates reached out to thousands of our most vulnerable STAR+PLUS and STAR Kids members at risk of losing Medicaid coverage for procedural reasons or loss of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) status.

Spreading the word through media campaigns

UnitedHealthcare launched national redetermination awareness campaigns that included video, social media, radio, TV and other strategies garnering over 54 million impressions in Texas. Our CEOs also participated in over 29 interviews with local media outlets and educational segments, in both English and Spanish, reaching an estimated audience of 19 million people.

Data sharing

As part of our “all hands-on deck” approach to member outreach and support , UnitedHealthcare is sharing redetermination information with Federally Qualified Health Centers, nursing facilities and personal attendant service providers.

Increasing community partner capacity through grant funding

UnitedHealthcare donated $500,000 to 10 local Community Partner organizations to help expand their capacity to perform redetermination outreach, education, and support. Grantees used funding to hire and train additional staff, host educational events, provide after-hour assistance, offer mobile unit support and other capacity-building strategies.

Community partner and member success stories

“A patient came into our clinic needing help with recertification but didn’t know where to start. Our Community Health Worker (CHW) helped her recover her YourTexasBenefits.com log in, identify all missing documentation and successfully complete recertification.”
– Gulf Coast Health Center, Inc.

“Our application counselor helped a mother of two children complete the renewal application. Her five-year-old has multiple complications due to a disability and her fourteen-year-old receives services at our clinic for anxiety. Between working three jobs and caring for the children, she had no time to learn about Medicaid renewals. She was incredibly grateful that So Clinica reached out to her and provided the resources and help she needed.”
– Su Clinica Community Health Center

“When a STAR Kids and Medically Dependent Children’s Program (MDCP) member was determined ineligible for Medicaid, I reached out to the member’s mother to walk her through the process of redetermination and provided her with contact information including 211, YourTexasBenefits.com and the MDCP escalation helpline. As a result, the mother was able to complete the necessary paperwork and the member was retroactively reinstated.”
– UnitedHealthcare Service Coordinator