Changes to the Renewal Process

Medicaid, Child Health Plus, and Essential Plan are no longer renewing automatically. As of July 2023, the NY State of Health and the NYC Human Resources Administration (HRA) are sending renewal notices to enrollees. The notices include the deadline to take action to renew or risk having a gap in coverage.

When you will get the notices and your deadline to take action are based on your enrollment end date. Deadlines range from June 30, 2023 to May 31, 2024.

Make sure your contact information with NY State of Health or with HRA is up to date. Look out for a renewal notice in the mail or email and renew by the deadline.

Visit nyc.gov/health/healthcoverage for more information.

General Assistance

The NYC Health Department’s Office of Health Insurance Services helps New Yorkers keep their health coverage. You can get help from an enrollment counselor by phone.

Reach out to the Office of Health Insurance Services by using the Health Insurance Enrollment Assistance Inquiry Form.  An enrollment counselor will call you back.

You can also call a counselor for more information.

You should have access to the following information when meeting with an in-person assistor:

• Name, address, birth date, and social security numbers of all applicants
• Immigration document numbers (if applicable)
• Employer and income information of all applicants (or any documentation showing unemployed status, if applicable)
• Health insurance policy numbers of any applicants that are already insured

The following persons can be included on your application:

• You and your spouse
• Your partner who lives with you
• Children you are caring for, who are living with you
• Anyone included on your federal income tax return

If you have enrolled in a health plan by the 15th of the month, your health insurance coverage will begin on the 1st of the following month.

If you have submitted a health insurance application through an in-person assistor, you should contact the assistor directly to find out status of your application.

If you have submitted a health insurance application on your own (or through an assistor whose name you cannot recall), you can get application status from the New York State of Health hotline.

As of 2019, consumers will not be required to pay the financial penalty fee for not having health insurance coverage.

However, if you were uninsured in 2018 and did not pay the penalty fee when filing taxes for the year, you may be advised to pay the penalty.

The penalty for not having health insurance coverage is calculated based on:

• Individual income
• Family size
• Number of months being uninsured

There are exemptions to the penalty. An in-person assistor can help figure out what the penalty may be and if you qualify for an exemption.