November 6, 2023

Dear Institution of Higher Education Leaders,

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Education (the Departments) are committed to student success and understand how access to affordable health care coverage is critical to supporting students' health and well-being as they work to complete postsecondary education. Today, we wish to bring to your attention information on how you can help your students connect to affordable health insurance through Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), or the Affordable Care Act.

With the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, States must renew the coverage of all Medicaid and CHIP enrolled individuals. Referred to as "unwinding," each State's process and timeline varies. It is estimated that all States will have completed their unwinding process by June 2024. Millions of students and young adults are at risk of losing their health care coverage — some because they are no longer eligible and many because of administrative barriers, such as having outdated contact information (and therefore not receiving notices and other important information), potentially confusing renewal processes, or only having access to information about their coverage in English.

We ask for your assistance in communicating to your students enrolled at institutions of higher education on the actions they and their families can take to ensure they have health insurance. Medicaid.gov will direct you to the State-specific information your students will need to renew their coverage. In addition, the Departments encourage leaders at higher education institutions to visit https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/secletter/higher-education-medicaid-renewal.pdf for recommended actions to prevent students from losing health coverage. You can find suggested resources on how to communicate about "unwinding" here.

We share your concern for the health and well-being of your students and their families. Thank you for making this information available.

Sincerely,