Beware Medicaid Renewal Scams

Now is the time to have your guard up about possible Medicaid renewal scams. The one-year period during which individuals must renew their health care coverage through Medicaid began in April 2023 and will go through March 2024. During the COVID-19 pandemic, eligibility reviews for Medicaid were put on hold. Prior to the pandemic, the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reviewed Medicaid eligibility on an annual basis. For the last three years, individuals could be added to Medicaid but generally not removed, baring certain cases, because of the federal COVID public health emergency. That came to an end and in April states could resume disenrolling people again.

Since then, the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has begun warning the com- munity about current Medicaid renewal scams. Medicaid members in several states, including South Carolina, have received emails, texts or calls from scammers asking for money or gift cards to keep or reinstate health coverage, or to sell enrollment services that offer quick and easy enrollment assis- tance. In some cases, callers demand the individual pay hundreds of dollars to maintain their health care coverage. The best tool consumers and families have to combat scams is knowledge. Officials have shared that the Healthy Connections Medicaid program is sending legitimate texts to inform members that their annual review form is in the mail and prompt them to complete it. Unlike scams, these messages will never ask for money. The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has advised that if someone receives an email or text asking them to pay money or provide gift cards to keep or renew their Medicaid coverage, please contact the Medicaid fraud hotline at (888) 364-3224 Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. This can also be reported by sending an email to FraudRes@scdhhs.gov.