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State of Wisconsin |
Release 24-03 |
A renewal is the process during which all eligibility factors subject to change are reexamined and eligibility is redetermined. The group’s continued eligibility depends on the timely completion of a renewal and receipt of required verification. Each renewal results in a determination to continue or discontinue eligibility.
The first required eligibility renewal for a BadgerCare Plus case is 12 months from the certification month, except for the following:
| Note | For manually certified BadgerCare Plus cases, make sure the member receives a timely notice of when the renewal is due. |
Review Dates for Time-Limited Benefits
BadgerCare Plus members are required to complete a renewal no earlier and no later than 12 months from their certification period. People whose benefits are time-limited (CENs, pregnant people, people who have met a deductible, or people in an extension) are required to complete a renewal at the end of their time-limited benefit unless they are on a case with other open BadgerCare Plus assistance groups. In this situation:
| Note | Shortening certification periods in an attempt to balance agency workload is not permissible. |
If an early renewal is completed for a child within their continuous coverage period, and that child would be adversely impacted by the early renewal (for example, they would be ineligible, or would have a new or higher premium), then the child will remain in their current continuous coverage period. However, other household members can be renewed and may qualify for new 12-month certification periods.
Health care eligibility must be promptly redetermined between regular renewals whenever information is received about a change in a member’s circumstances that may affect their eligibility. Requests for information or verification must be limited to information related to the change. If enough information is available to determine eligibility following the change, new certification periods may begin.
When an individual opens for a new health care certification period on a case, new 12-month certification periods will be established for other eligible health care members in the household, with some exceptions.
New certification periods will be established for existing eligible members when an individual opens following a change in circumstances, person-add, new program request, or renewal. For example, new certification periods can be established when a person joins the household and opens for health care, changes health care categories, or a previously ineligible person becomes eligible due to a change (for example, a reduction in income puts them under the program limit).
New certification periods will not be established for an existing member when:
| Example 1 | Margaret and Phillip are enrolled in BadgerCare Plus as childless adults with a certification period of January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2025. On July 2, 2025, 11-year-old William joins the household and requests health care. William does not have continuous coverage from another case. William is enrolled in BadgerCare Plus with continuous coverage from July 1, 2025, through July 31, 2026. Margaret and Phillip are now eligible for BadgerCare Plus as parents and will also start a new certification period from August 1, 2025, through July 31, 2026. |
| Example 2 | Diego, Sofia, and their 4-year-old daughter Gabriella are enrolled in BadgerCare Plus from February 1, 2025, through January 31, 2026. On August 8, 2025, Diego’s 12-year-old daughter Isabella joins the household and requests health care. Isabella has had BadgerCare Plus on another case since January. Her BadgerCare Plus is closed on the other case, and she is determined eligible on Diego’s case. Isabella is enrolled in BadgerCare Plus with a new continuous coverage period from September 1, 2025, through August 31, 2026. Diego, Sofia, and Gabriella remain eligible for BadgerCare Plus and start a new certification period from September 1, 2025, through August 31, 2026. |
| Example 3 | Bill and Carrie are enrolled in BadgerCare Plus as parents. Their 12-year-old daughter Kiley is disabled and enrolled in SSI-Related Medicaid. Their certification period is January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2025. Kiley is determined to no longer be disabled on June 5, 2025. There was no other change. Kiley transitions from SSI-Related Medicaid to BadgerCare Plus with a new certification period of July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026. A new 12-month certification period is established for Bill and Carrie from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026. |
| Example 4 | Dimitri is enrolled in BadgerCare Plus as a childless adult from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025. In October, Dimitri gets married and requests health care for his wife, Polina. Polina is not a US citizen or qualifying immigrant and is found ineligible. Dimitri’s BadgerCare Plus certification period does not change. |
Time-Limited Benefits
New certification periods will not be established for members enrolled in time-limited health care benefits, including:
| Example 5 | Matthew and his child Lee are enrolled in BadgerCare Plus from January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2025. Lilly, Lee’s mother, is enrolled in BadgerCare Plus as a pregnant individual with a renewal date of September 30, 2025. In May, their other child Silas joins the household. Lilly remains pregnant. Silas’s information is verified and there is no other change. Silas is enrolled in BadgerCare Plus from May 1, 2025, through May 31, 2026. A new 12-month certification period is established for Matthew and Lee from June 1, 2025, through May 31, 2026. Lilly’s certification period does not change. |
However, a new time-limited health care benefit will result in other members getting a new 12-month certification period.
| Example 6 | Deepak, Fatima, and their son Ravi are enrolled in BadgerCare Plus from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026. In August 2025, Fatima’s pregnancy is reported, and she moves from BadgerCare Plus as a parent to BadgerCare Plus as a pregnant person through May 31, 2026. There are no other changes, and Deepak and Ravi remain eligible. A new 12-month certification period is established for Deepak and Ravi from September 1, 2025, through August 31, 2026. |
Children in Continuous Coverage Periods
If a child would be negatively impacted or move to a CHIP category of health care because of a change, person-add, or new program request during their 12-month continuous coverage period, the child will not get a new 12-month certification period. They will remain in their current period. However, other eligible household members can get new 12-month certification periods. Households may also have different health care renewal dates. See section 1.2.10 Certification Period Changes for Children in Continuous Coverage Periods for examples.
Other Health Care Programs
If an individual opens for a new certification period for Wisconsin Well Woman Medicaid, Katie Beckett Medicaid, the SeniorCare Prescription Drug Program, or benefits outside of the CARES eligibility system, new 12-month certification periods will not be established for existing members on the case.
Most health care renewals received within three months of the renewal month can be processed as a late renewal instead of requiring a new application. This policy applies to the following health care programs:
This policy applies to members receiving health care benefits based on a met deductible but not to members with an unmet deductible.
Late renewals are only permitted for people whose eligibility has ended because of lack of renewal, and not for other reasons. Late renewals and renewal-related verifications must be accepted for up to three calendar months after the renewal month. Members whose health care benefits are closed for more than three months because of lack of renewal must reapply.
Agencies must consider late submission of an online or paper renewal form or a late renewal request by phone or in person to be a valid request for health care. The new health care certification date should be set based on the receipt date of the signed renewal. If verification is required during the completion of a late renewal, the member has 20 days to provide it.
| Example 1 |
Jenny’s renewal is due on January 31. She submits an online renewal via ACCESS on March 10. If the renewal is processed on the same day and verification is requested, the verification would be due on March 30. If she provides verification on or before this due date and meets all other eligibility criteria for BadgerCare Plus, her eligibility and certification period would start on March 1. Her next renewal would be due February 28 of the following year. |
| Note |
The late renewal three-month period starts after the month the renewal was due. It does not restart when a late renewal has been submitted. If Jenny submits her renewal on March 15 but does not provide verification until May 20, she will need to reapply since she submitted her verification after the three-month period that started with her January renewal date and ended April 30. |
If the health care renewal was completed timely but requested verifications were not provided as part of the renewal, the health care program can reopen without a new application if these verifications are submitted within three months of the renewal month. The submission of the renewal-related verifications is considered a request for health care. Only the missing verifications must be provided. However, the verifications must include information for any month(s) of the eligibility determination. For example, if verification is submitted for a past month, the agency must request the current verification, allowing the member 20 days to submit the verification.
| Example 2 |
Jenny’s renewal is due on January 31. She completes her renewal on January 5, and a Verification Checklist is generated requesting income verification for the previous 30 days. Jenny does not submit the requested verification, and her BadgerCare Plus eligibility is terminated as of January 31. |
If a member has a gap in coverage because of a late renewal, they may request coverage of the past months in which the gap occurred. Backdated coverage under the late renewal policy is available to all BadgerCare Plus members who meet program rules, including children who would not otherwise qualify for backdated coverage because their income is too high (see Section 25.8.1 Backdated Eligibility). However, this does not change the rules for backdating at application.
If a member requests coverage for past months during a late renewal, they must provide all necessary information and verifications for those months (including verification of income for all months requested) to be covered for those months. They will not be charged premiums for the past months.
Based on federal requirements, health care eligibility must be redetermined once every 12 months based on information available to an agency. Agencies cannot require information from health care members during an annual renewal unless the information cannot be obtained through an electronic data exchange or the information from the electronic data exchange is not reasonably compatible with the information on file. The process of using electronic data exchanges for renewals is referred to as the administrative renewal process.
If information from electronic data exchanges validated information about a member’s income as currently recorded in CARES, additional information about income cannot be requested from the member at renewal. This includes member-reported information about earned income that is found to be reasonably compatible with earned income information obtained from the State Wage Information Collection Agency (SWICA) and Federal Data Services Hub (FDSH) data exchanges, as well as any information about unearned income verified through the Social Security Administration (SSA) or Unemployment Insurance Benefits (UIB) data exchanges. Unless reported otherwise, it is assumed during the administrative renewal process that household composition and tax filing status have not changed.
To be considered for an administrative renewal, a member must be due for renewal in the following month and have eligibility in one or more qualifying BadgerCare Plus, Family Planning Only Services (FPOS), or Elderly, Blind, or Disabled (EBD) Medicaid assistance groups (AGs) open, including members open with a suspended status.
Some members in a household may have their eligibility administratively renewed while other members in the household must complete a regular renewal to continue their eligibility.
A member's health care eligibility can be administratively renewed if all of the information necessary to determine the member’s eligibility is on file and can be verified through a data exchange (for example, income with a SWICA match or Equifax match through FDSH, Social Security income, and/or Unemployment income).
A member’s health care eligibility cannot be administratively renewed if they meet any of the following criteria:
The administrative renewal process begins in the 11th month of a member’s certification period. CARES determines who qualifies for an administrative renewal, verifies and updates information based on data exchanges, tests employment income and SWICA and FDSH results for reasonable compatibility, and runs through batch eligibility (see Process Help, Section 4.7 Administrative Renewals).
Members who have a successful administrative renewal will have health care or FPOS eligibility redetermined and will be recertified for a new 12-month certification period and will receive a Notice of Decision.
If all members in the household can be administratively renewed, they will be sent a letter notifying them that their eligibility has been renewed, along with a case summary. The member(s) must review the information on the case summary and report if any of the information is incorrect within 30 days of the mailing date. The member(s) can make the changes on the summary and mail or fax it to their agency, or they can report their changes through ACCESS or by phone. If all of the information on the case summary is correct, the member(s) will not need to take any other action.
If any members of the household cannot be administratively renewed, the household will be sent an eligibility renewal letter and a Pre-Printed Renewal Form (PPRF). If the household does not complete this renewal process, then only the members who were administratively renewed will continue to be eligible in the next 12-month certification period.
Benefits may not be terminated or reduced (for example, being charged a greater premium amount) during the administrative renewal process based solely on information obtained from a data exchange. This includes information obtained from SSA, UIB, FDSH, or SWICA data exchanges. If benefits cannot be continued through the administrative renewal process, the member will be excluded from the administrative renewal process, and they will be sent an eligibility renewal letter and a Pre-Printed Renewal Form (PPRF). The member will have at least 30 days to complete, sign, and return the PPRF or to complete their renewal by phone, in-person, or through ACCESS.
Members who have a successful administrative renewal remain subject to change reporting requirements. The administrative renewal letter instructs a member to review and report any changes to the information provided in the attached case summary. In addition, members who are administratively renewed will receive a Notice of Decision that identifies program-specific change reporting requirements. Changes reported for a member who has undergone an administrative renewal should be processed under existing policy.
Changes reported as part of a renewal for another program should also be applied to health care.
This page last updated in Release Number: 24-03
Release Date: 12/18/2024
Effective Date: 12/18/2024
The information concerning the BadgerCare Plus program provided in this handbook release is published in accordance with: Titles XI, XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act; Parts 430 through 481 of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations; Chapter 49 of the Wisconsin Statutes; and Chapters HA 3, DHS 2 and 101 through 109 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code.
Notice: The content within this manual is the sole responsibility of the State of Wisconsin's Department of Health Services (DHS). This site will link to sites outside of DHS where appropriate. DHS is in no way responsible for the content of sites outside of DHS.
Publication Number: P-10171