Language Access During Medicaid Continuous Enrollment Condition
The HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR) issued a “Dear Colleague” letter to state Medicaid administrators about their responsibility to provide access to various languages for individuals with limited English proficiency during the Medicaid redetermination process. The letter lays out the following requirements:
Translate documents written in English by a qualified translator.
Oral language assistance from a qualified interpreter that understands Medicaid, CHIP, and Marketplace plans, either in-person or using the phone, internet, or video.
Language assistance services must be provided free of charge “in a timely manner.”
HHS and OCR reinterpret federal law that prohibits “discrimination” on the basis of race, color, or national origin to mean that states not providing access to different languages is discrimination based on national origin. The directives in this letter also may run counter to some state laws designating English as the official language and impose significant unfunded costs.
