Starting April 1, AHCCCS, Arizona’s Medicaid program, will start its redetermination process. The idea is to ensure all 2.5 million members still qualify for AHCCCS — and that includes thousands of older adults. 

There are more than 160,000 AHCCCS members who are over the age of 65. 

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"And about 18,000 of those are enrolled in the ALTCS (Arizona Long-Term Care System) program," said Beth Kohler, the chief executive officer of the Arizona Association of Health Plans. Kohler said it’s important for older adults or their family or legal representative to respond to information requests from AHCCCS. 

"Because AHCCCS, through ALTCS, covers extra benefits that Medicare does not, such as services in their home and community-based services and for some longer-term care in nursing facilities," said Kohler.

And this population, she says, typically does not qualify for subsidized coverage on the federal exchange. 

About 647,000 AHCCCS members are at risk of losing coverage, but they aren’t the only ones who AHCCCS will be looking at.

"The entire population of 2.5 million people enrolled in AHCCCS are going to go through this process," Kohler said.

Individuals can make sure AHCCCS has their current information (mailing address, phone number, email) by going to healthearizonaplus.gov or calling 855-HEA-PLUS (855-432-7587), Monday through Friday 7:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. If their information has changed, they can access an option to “Report a Change” in the “Individual and Family” section. They can also access a list of assistors in the community who can help from the main page of healthearizonaplus.gov.

Individuals can also reach out to their AHCCCS health plan (contact information will be listed on the back of their AHCCCS ID card) and health plan staff can help them.