A missed renewal can end your Minnesota Medical Assistance coverage even if you still qualify. Federal law (42 CFR 435.916) requires the state to attempt an automatic renewal from data it already holds before it ever asks you for paperwork, but when a renewal does reach you, it has to come back on time. This guide explains how the Minnesota Medicaid recertification and renewal cycle works, what to do when your county or tribal agency sends a renewal, and the 90-day window to recover if you miss the deadline.

Renew through your county or tribal servicing agency or the MNsure online application · the Minnesota Department of Human Services runs the program statewide.

Renewal is a critical operational moment in any beneficiary's relationship with the Medicaid program. Eligibility is set once at initial application, but under 42 CFR 435.916 it is redetermined at least every 12 months thereafter, and a procedural closure at renewal usually happens to someone who remained eligible and simply did not return the packet in time.

The Minnesota Medicaid recertification and renewal cycle

Under 42 CFR 435.916, the state Medicaid agency must redetermine eligibility at least once every 12 months. For aged, blind, disabled, long-term-care and Medicare Savings Program beneficiaries that is a minimum, not a ceiling: the state may redetermine sooner. Your renewal month is set when you are initially approved and stays the same every year.

What is distinct about Minnesota is who runs the renewal. Minnesota is a county-administered, state-supervised program: DHS sets policy, but your local county or tribal human services agency processes your case, and most MA is delivered through managed-care health plans. Your renewal packet comes from, and goes back to, the county or tribal nation where you live, and any dispute over a covered service runs through your health plan first.

Renewal splits into two procedural paths by eligibility category:

  • MAGI populations (children, pregnant women, parents and relative caretakers, and adults without children): renewed using Modified Adjusted Gross Income methodology. Minnesota covers CHIP-funded children within MA rather than a separate program, and adults with income above the MA limit up to 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines are covered by MinnesotaCare, the state's Basic Health Program.
  • Non-MAGI populations (Medical Assistance for people who are Aged, Blind, or Disabled (MA-ABD), long-term care, and Elderly Waiver): renewed under the non-MAGI framework, which includes an asset test. The state still attempts ex parte first, but because federal law requires every state to verify assets at renewal through an Asset Verification System (42 U.S.C. 1396w), these renewals rarely clear automatically and usually require bank statements and a signed asset-verification authorization.

Ex parte Minnesota Medicaid renewal: the federal mandate

The single most important federal rule in modern Medicaid renewal is the ex parte default at 42 CFR 435.916. Before the agency asks a beneficiary for any information at renewal, it must first attempt to redetermine eligibility from reliable information already in the person's account or otherwise available, including electronic data sources. Only when it cannot renew on that basis may it request information from the enrollee.

In Minnesota, ex parte renewal draws on Social Security earnings and benefit records, Internal Revenue Service tax data, wage records, and other program data already tied to your case. If those sources confirm the beneficiary remains within the income threshold and household composition has not changed, the renewal is processed automatically, and the beneficiary is notified that coverage continues for another 12 months with no action required.

When ex parte cannot confirm eligibility, the county or tribal agency has to ask you directly. If your eligibility is based on MAGI, federal law requires the agency to send a renewal form carrying the information it already has and to give you at least 30 days from the date of the renewal form to respond, provide any missing information, and sign it. The clock runs from the date printed on the form, not the day it arrives. If you qualify on the basis of age, disability, long-term services and supports, a Medicare Savings Program, or another non-MAGI pathway, federal rules let Minnesota follow that same procedure, including the 90-day reconsideration below, but do not require it, so ask your county or tribal worker what applies to you. Ex parte most often fails on self-employment or cash income that does not appear in wage databases, on the asset documentation MA-ABD and long-term-care cases require, and on income that sits near an eligibility threshold.

How to renew Minnesota Medical Assistance

Under 42 CFR 435.916, a renewal may be submitted through any mode of application the agency offers, and the agency may not require an in-person interview to renew. In Minnesota that means online, by mail, by phone, or in person through your county or tribal human services agency; people not on Medicare can also manage MA and MinnesotaCare renewals through MNsure, the state marketplace.

Channel Method Notes
Online (MNsure) The MNsure online application at mnsure.org For enrollees not on Medicare; also handles MinnesotaCare; upload documents and check status
Mail Signed renewal form to your county or tribal agency Address is pre-printed on the packet
Phone Your county or tribal human services agency Telephonic completion accepted
In person Your county or tribal human services office Bring the packet and requested documents

If you have moved to a different county, notify both the old and new agency so your case transfers and the renewal notice reaches you.

The 90-day Minnesota Medicaid reconsideration window

If your coverage closed because you missed the renewal paperwork, you usually do not have to start over.

Under 42 CFR 435.916, if a beneficiary loses Medicaid for failure to return the renewal form or necessary information (a procedural termination, not an eligibility-based termination), the agency must reconsider eligibility and treat the late-returned form as the renewal if the beneficiary submits it within 90 days of the termination, without requiring a new application. If the beneficiary is found still eligible, coverage is restored. Federal law requires that reconsideration for MAGI-based coverage; on the age, disability, long-term-care, and Medicare Savings Program pathways it is a state option, so ask your county or tribal agency whether it applies to you.

Critical distinctions:

  • Procedural termination: you did not respond, you did not provide requested documentation, or you missed the signature. 90-day reconsideration applies.
  • Eligibility-based termination: the agency determined you no longer meet income, assets, residency, or categorical requirements. 90-day reconsideration does not apply. You must file a new application, and you may appeal if you disagree with the finding.
  • The 90-day clock starts on the termination date, not the date of the notice. Read your closure notice carefully.

To activate reconsideration, submit the renewal through MNsure or your county or tribal agency. If you no longer have the form, contact that agency to request a new one, and note the closure date prominently so the case is routed correctly.

Managed care and renewal: exhaust the health-plan appeal first

Minnesota delivers most Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare through managed-care health plans, and this changes how you dispute a service problem that surfaces around renewal. The participating MA and MinnesotaCare health plans are Blue Plus, HealthPartners, Hennepin Health, Itasca Medical Care, Medica, PrimeWest Health, South Country, and UCare.

If your health plan denies, reduces, or terminates a covered service, you must file an appeal with your health plan before you request a state appeal. The health-plan (internal) appeal must be filed within 60 days after the date on the health plan's notice, and the plan issues a written decision within 30 days (72 hours for an approved expedited appeal).

This step is separate from the eligibility renewal itself. Whether your coverage continues is decided by your county or tribal agency at redetermination; whether your health plan covers a specific service is decided by the plan.

Fair hearing rights at renewal

If your renewal is denied or your coverage terminated, you have a federal right to a fair hearing under Section 1902(a)(3) of the Social Security Act and 42 CFR 431.220. In Minnesota, fair hearings are conducted by the Appeals Division of DHS, using human services judges, and a state appeal is filed on the Appeal to State Agency form (DHS-0033); the Appeals Division can be reached at 651-431-3600.

Federal law caps the request window at 90 days from the date the notice is mailed. That 90 days is the most a state may allow, not an amount you are guaranteed: a shorter state deadline is fully enforceable against you. Go by the date printed on your own notice of action. For a managed-care service dispute, the sequence is layered: after the health-plan appeal decision, you must request a state appeal in writing within 120 days of that decision. A full walkthrough is in our guide to Minnesota Medicaid appeals and fair hearings.

Continuation of benefits (aid paid pending): federal law (42 CFR 431.230) continues your Medicaid during the appeal only if you request the hearing before the date the action takes effect. In Minnesota's managed-care track, to keep a disputed service you must file the health-plan appeal within 10 days of the plan notice, and to continue benefits through the state appeal you must file within 10 days of the plan appeal decision. If the action is later sustained, the agency may recoup the cost of services furnished solely because benefits continued.

Children's 12-month continuous eligibility

Section 5112 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 requires every state to give children under age 19 enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP 12 months of continuous eligibility from the date of enrollment, effective January 1, 2024. In Minnesota, where CHIP-funded children are covered within MA, a child's coverage is locked in for 12 months regardless of changes in family income. If a parent loses MA mid-year because household income rose above the threshold, the children stay covered until their next annual renewal.

Limited exceptions allow mid-year termination: the child turns 19, moves out of Minnesota, dies, the family voluntarily disenrolls, or there is fraud.

Pregnant women and 12-month postpartum coverage

Minnesota keeps a woman who was eligible while pregnant enrolled for a full 12 months after the end of pregnancy, under the permanent state option created by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and made available to states by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023. Coverage continues regardless of income changes, and the annual renewal cycle resumes after that period ends.

Long-term care and Elderly Waiver renewals: two simultaneous reviews

If you receive Medical Assistance for long-term care (nursing facility or the Minnesota Elderly Waiver), the renewal has two independent components, both of which must stay current.

Financial redetermination

Conducted by your county or tribal agency on the 12-month cycle, this review includes the asset test federal law requires the state to run at renewal through the Asset Verification System. Minnesota's asset limits are more generous than the federal SSI default: $3,000 for a household of one and $6,000 for a household of two, plus $200 for each additional member. The review applies the Clothing and Personal Needs Allowance of $132 per month for a nursing-facility resident and, for institutional and waiver care, tests income against the Special Income Standard of $2,982 per month in 2026. Minnesota also applies a 60-month look-back on uncompensated asset transfers and, as a section 209(b) state, uses a medically needy spend-down rather than a Qualified Income Trust. For a married couple, the community spouse may keep half the couple's countable assets up to $162,660 and monthly income up to $4,066.50.

Level of care reassessment

Separately, continued long-term-care eligibility requires that you still meet a nursing-facility level of care, determined in Minnesota through a MnCHOICES assessment; the Elderly Waiver, which pays for in-home and community-based services, is administered by counties, tribal entities, and managed care organizations. A beneficiary can pass the financial redetermination and fail the level-of-care reassessment, or the reverse. If level of care is not approved, waiver or institutional Medicaid ends, but the beneficiary may continue on standard MA-ABD if otherwise eligible.

Returned mail procedures

The federal rules that once required an agency to search for a new address before acting on mail that comes back as undeliverable were removed from the Code of Federal Regulations effective July 31, 2026. Federal law now says only that an agency may act without advance notice when mail returns with no forwarding address and your whereabouts are unknown, and that coverage must be reinstated if your whereabouts become known while you are still eligible. Minnesota may still have its own returned-mail procedures, so contact your county or tribal agency if you think a renewal went to an old address. Either way, update your address after any move through MNsure, with your county or tribal agency, with your managed-care health plan, and with the post office.

What goes wrong: four renewal scenarios

The cases below are illustrative composites, not real individuals, meant to show how the rules above play out end to end.

Renewal scenarios worked end to end

Manual renewal: an MA-ABD enrollee on disability?

Social Security data confirms an enrollee's income, but assets cannot be verified automatically, so the county sends a packet requesting bank statements and a signed asset-verification authorization, with the return deadline printed on the form. The enrollee returns it, the county confirms assets remain under the $3,000 limit, and the renewal is approved on time.

90-day reconsideration: a MAGI enrollee who moved?

An enrollee moves in August; the renewal is mailed to the old address and returned, and coverage closes at the end of October after a family emergency. In mid-November the enrollee submits the renewal within 90 days of closure. Because eligibility never changed, coverage is restored after a successful reconsideration without a new application.

Missed 90-day window: a MAGI enrollee who discarded the packet?

An enrollee discards a January renewal as junk mail, and coverage closes at the end of February. Discovering the lapse in July, the enrollee is outside the 90-day window and must file a new application, which brings only retroactive coverage for services in or after the third month before the application month.

What changes after 2026: the move to 6-month renewals

Section 71107 of the 2025 budget-reconciliation law (H.R.1, Public Law 119-21) requires states to redetermine eligibility once every 6 months rather than every 12 months for the ACA expansion-adult population, for renewals scheduled on or after January 1, 2027. Its only exemption covers an Indian or Urban Indian as defined in the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, a California Indian, and anyone otherwise determined eligible as an Indian for the Indian Health Service. Minnesota has adopted ACA Medicaid expansion, so its expansion adults should expect a shorter renewal cadence beginning in 2027.

The same 2025 law also shortens retroactive eligibility for applications filed on or after January 1, 2027, to two months before the application month for most enrollees and one month for the expansion group, down from the three-month default.

Special populations and renewal nuances

MinnesotaCare enrollees. MinnesotaCare covers adults with income above the MA limit up to 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. If your income falls or rises during the year you may move between MinnesotaCare and MA through the same renewal and reporting channels, so report income changes rather than waiting for the annual cycle.

Refugees and qualified immigrants. When the agency cannot promptly verify a declared citizenship or immigration status, federal law (42 CFR 435.956) requires it to grant a reasonable opportunity period, generally ending the earlier of verification or 90 days, during which it may not deny, reduce, or terminate benefits for someone it otherwise finds eligible.

Dual eligibles (Medicare plus Medicaid). Dual eligibles renew MA at least annually through their county or tribal agency. Medicare entitlement is continuous, but Medicare Savings Program eligibility is reassessed on the same non-MAGI cycle, and if a beneficiary loses MA mid-year, Medicaid cost-sharing protections end with it. See Minnesota Medicare Savings Programs for the MSP renewal specifics.

Common Minnesota Medical Assistance renewal mistakes

  1. Ignoring the renewal because the envelope looks like junk mail. Pull anything from your county or tribal agency, DHS, or MNsure out of the mail pile and open it.
  2. Assuming ex parte will handle everything. The manual packet must be returned by the deadline printed on the form.
  3. Updating your address with only one part of the system. Update all of them, plus the post office.
  4. Not knowing the 90-day reconsideration window exists. A procedural closure can be reversed within 90 days without a new application.
  5. Skipping the health-plan appeal. For a managed-care service dispute you must file the plan appeal first, within 60 days, before a state appeal.
  6. Missing the asset-verification authorization for MA-ABD or long-term care. Without it the county cannot run the required asset check, and the renewal stalls.
  7. Assuming a child loses coverage when a parent does. Children under 19 keep coverage for their full 12-month continuous-eligibility period.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often do I have to renew Minnesota Medical Assistance?

At least once every 12 months for most beneficiaries. Your renewal month is the same each year and is tied to your initial approval date. Under 42 CFR 435.916 that 12 months is a minimum, not a cap, for aged, blind, disabled and long-term-care beneficiaries, who may be reviewed sooner. One change is coming: the ACA expansion-adult population moves to a 6-month cycle for renewals scheduled on or after January 1, 2027, and Minnesota has expanded, so its expansion adults are affected.

What happens if I miss my Minnesota Medicaid renewal deadline?

Your coverage closes at the end of your renewal month. If the closure was procedural (you did not return paperwork or respond to a request for information), you have a 90-day reconsideration window to submit the renewal and have your eligibility reconsidered without filing a new application; if you are found still eligible, your coverage is restored. If you miss the 90-day window, you must file a new application.

Where do I submit my Minnesota Medical Assistance renewal?

Online through the MNsure application, by paper to your county or tribal servicing agency (the MHCP Application for Certain Populations, DHS-3876, covers people 65 or older or on Medicare), or in person at that office. Online submission lets you upload documents and check case status.

My child is on Medical Assistance. If my income goes up mid-year, does my child lose coverage?

No. Under federal continuous-eligibility rules effective January 1, 2024, children under 19 have 12 months of continuous eligibility from the date of enrollment, and Minnesota covers CHIP-funded children within MA. Even if your income rises above the threshold, your child keeps coverage until the next annual renewal. Exceptions: turning 19, moving out of Minnesota, death, voluntary disenrollment, or fraud.

I have a managed-care health plan. How do I dispute a service denial around renewal?

You must file an appeal with your health plan first, within 60 days of the plan's notice; the plan issues a written decision within 30 days. If you disagree, you then request a state appeal in writing within 120 days of the plan decision, filed on the Appeal to State Agency form (DHS-0033); the DHS Appeals Division can be reached at 651-431-3600.

My long-term-care renewal needs both a financial check and a MnCHOICES assessment. What is the difference?

The financial check is your county or tribal agency's renewal of income and asset eligibility on the 12-month cycle. The MnCHOICES assessment determines whether you still meet a nursing-facility level of care for the Elderly Waiver or institutional Medicaid. Both must be current.

Minnesota Medicaid renewal: where to get help

To complete a renewal, recover coverage lost in the past 90 days, or appeal a termination, start with your county or tribal human services agency, then use the statewide resources below.

If you are unsure whether your renewal has been processed, contact your county or tribal agency. Brevy's guides to Minnesota Medicaid eligibility income limits, how to apply for Minnesota Medicaid, and the Minnesota Medicaid hub cover the broader eligibility landscape; for long-term-care and waiver renewals, see Minnesota Medicaid HCBS waivers.

Learn More

MedicaidHow to apply for Minnesota MedicaidHow to apply for Minnesota Medicaid in 2026: the MNsure online application, paper forms DHS-6696 and DHS-3876, what replaced ApplyMN, documents, and appeals. MedicaidMinnesota Medicaid eligibility income limitsSee the 2026 Minnesota Medicaid income limits: 138% FPG with no asset test under 65, the 100% FPG and $3,000 asset rules at 65, and the spend-down. MedicaidMinnesota Medicaid appeals and fair hearingsHow to appeal a Minnesota Medicaid denial, reduction, or termination, exhaust your health plan appeal, keep benefits, and request a state fair hearing. MedicaidMinnesota Medicaid HCBS waiversMinnesota Medicaid HCBS waivers run through the Elderly Waiver, which pays for in-home and community care for older adults who need nursing-home-level care. MedicaidMinnesota Medicaid estate recoveryMinnesota Medicaid estate recovery in 2026 recovers only long-term-care costs for recipients 55+ and is deferred while a spouse or disabled child survives. MedicaidMinnesota Medicaid Medicare Savings ProgramsMinnesota Medicare Savings Programs 2026: QMB, SLMB, and QI income and asset limits, Part D Extra Help, and how to apply through your county or tribal agency. MedicaidMedicaid by stateMedicaid works differently in every state, from who qualifies to what's covered and how to apply. See what varies and jump to your state's full guide.

Find personalized help navigating Minnesota Medical Assistance renewal at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.

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Brevy Care Team

Expert eldercare guidance from Brevy's team of healthcare professionals and researchers.