The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services announced on September 10, 2026 that nearly 700,000 Medicaid recipients would begin receiving letters that week about federal changes scheduled to start in January 2027, including work requirements and renewals every six months. The letter is the first in a series of communications, and the department said automated calls and text messages would follow starting in mid-September.
Who is getting the letter
According to the department’s September 10 announcement, the changes affect only Pennsylvanians who qualify for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act expansion, which covers adults ages 19 to 64 based on income rather than disability or health status. The department said only adults covered through the expansion will receive the letter outlining the steps they must take.
The letter, form CM 710, lists by name the members of a household who may be affected and says each will need to show at the next renewal in 2027 that they are meeting the work requirement or qualify for an exemption. It lays out two first steps: check whether an exemption applies, and if not, plan to spend at least 80 hours a month on work, school, job training, volunteering or community service, or a combination of those activities. The requirement can also be met if countable household income is at least $580 a month before taxes, and seasonal workers can qualify based on average monthly income over the last six months.
The department has posted the letter online in English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Vietnamese, and it has released a Medicaid Changes Communications Toolkit with flyers, FAQs and the scripts for its phone calls and text messages so that community organizations and health systems can repeat the same information. For people who need volunteer hours, the letter points to panavigate.org to find organizations offering them.
“PA DHS is doing everything we can to ensure Pennsylvanians stay covered,” Secretary Val Arkoosh said, adding that the department has spent the year since the law passed improving its technology and hiring staff. Arkoosh also said that when work requirements were enacted in other states, people lost coverage “not because they are not eligible but because the process to keep coverage is more difficult and creates confusion.”
The first letter starts the paper trail. Keeping this September letter together with the renewal notices that follow in 2027 is simpler with the renewal document checklist and renewal and reporting calendar in The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer.
Calls and texts come from two numbers
The mailing is being followed by automated calls and texts. The department’s FAQ on the Medicaid changes says recorded calls come from PA DHS at 1-877-839-4782 and text messages come from PA DHS 69217, and that the department will never ask for personal information about a recipient or their benefits by text message.
That guidance answers a question the FAQ poses directly: how to tell whether a call or text claiming to be from PA DHS is real and not a scam. Questions about the changes can go to the HR1 FAQ line at 1-877-883-6383 or to the PA DHS HelpLine at 1-800-692-7462. The department also recommends updating contact information through COMPASS or the myCOMPASS PA app and reporting any move to the U.S. Postal Service so that mailed notices arrive.
Notices come before any change in coverage
The department’s FAQ states that Medicaid coverage “will not end without notice” and that PA DHS will send a notice whenever coverage changes for any reason. Coverage does not automatically change on January 1; current recipients will answer work-requirement questions at their first renewal in 2027. If the department needs more information at that point, the letter says, it will send a request and allow 30 days to provide it, by upload through COMPASS, by mail or in person at a County Assistance Office, or by phone for reporting an exemption.
Federal rules set a floor for those notices. In a State Medicaid Director letter issued in March 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said states must provide at least 10 days’ advance notice and fair-hearing rights before terminating coverage or taking another adverse action. CMS also said that moving someone from a 12-month eligibility period to a six-month period counts as a reduction in eligibility, so that shift requires the same advance notice and hearing rights.
When the six-month schedule reaches current enrollees
Pennsylvania’s new rules start with applications received in January 2027 and renewals due after that date. Current recipients switch to six-month renewals after completing their next renewal in or after February 2027. The department gives an example: a recipient whose next renewal is due in March 2027 would renew again in September 2027. A new applicant whose coverage begins in January 2027 would renew in July 2027.
For Pennsylvanians in their 50s and early 60s covered through the expansion, that means a renewal and a work-requirement check roughly twice a year for as long as they remain in that group. Recipients who believe they are exempt, for example as a caregiver for a person with a disability or because of a serious medical condition, must report the exemption at their next renewal or they will be asked to show they meet the work requirement. PA DHS said it is using available data such as recent medical claims to help identify people who may be exempt.
The letter also lists temporary hardships that can qualify for an exemption, including a stay in a hospital, nursing facility, assisted living facility or personal care home, and travel outside the community to treat a serious health condition. A veteran with a total disability rating from the Department of Veterans Affairs is also exempt.
A stack of state letters is only useful if it stays in order
The September letter is the first in a series of communications Pennsylvania plans to send about the 2027 changes. The gap it leaves is a household system for matching each letter, call or text to the renewal it concerns and the date a response is due.
The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer includes a renewal document checklist, a renewal and reporting calendar and 51 state packs for keeping those notices and due dates together.
Sort the letters by due date with The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer.
This article was prepared with AI assistance and reviewed against the linked official sources.
