In a HARP and getting Medicare? What happens to your HARP services under IB-Dual

Checked against the source: the NY Department of Health’s page for dual eligible New Yorkers answers “Can I still get HARP services?” with “Yes, you will still receive HARP services if you are enrolled in the IB-Dual program.” The same page says people who opt out of the aligned D-SNP cannot stay in their Medicaid plan or HARP.

You are in a HARP. You have a care manager, maybe a peer specialist, maybe help with housing or a job. Now Medicare is starting, and a letter says you will be moved into the company’s Medicare D-SNP. The question nobody answers clearly is the one that matters: do I keep my HARP services?

What is the HARP program in Medicaid, and who qualifies?

A Health and Recovery Plan is a Medicaid managed care plan for adults 21 and older with serious mental health or substance use needs. The Office of Mental Health says HARP members must be offered care management through a Health Home. HARP members can also get two groups of extra services: Behavioral Health Home and Community Based Services (BH HCBS), and CORE, which stands for Community Oriented Recovery and Empowerment. CORE has four services: community psychiatric support and treatment, psychosocial rehabilitation, family support and training, and peer support. These are the services people are afraid of losing.

Who qualifies: the Office of Mental Health’s HARP page says you must be 21 or older, be eligible for Medicaid managed care, and meet the state’s behavioral health high-risk criteria. People who qualify get a letter from the state or New York Medicaid Choice.

The rule that changed, and the old page that still says otherwise

For years, getting Medicare meant leaving your HARP. A state FAQ from 2019 that is still online says, “At this time, duals are not eligible for HARP enrollment.” If you search, you will find it. It is out of date.

The current Department of Health chart of who can be in Medicaid managed care says a person with Medicare is excluded from mainstream Medicaid managed care and HARP unless they are enrolled in the same company’s D-SNP, and “as long as consumer does not opt out of the D-SNP, they can remain enrolled in MMC/HARP.” That is the IB-Dual program. The state’s duals FAQ puts it in plain words: “Can I still get HARP services? Yes, you will still receive HARP services if you are enrolled in the IB-Dual program.”

So the default enrollment letter is not a threat to your HARP. It is the doorway that keeps it open. Our line-by-line reading of the letter covers the rest of the wording.

What still changes if you stay

Keeping the HARP does not mean nothing moves. Three things change on the Medicare start date.

1. Medicare pays first. Medicare.gov says that when you have both, “Medicare pays first... Medicaid pays last.” Your therapist, psychiatrist, clinic, and hospital stays now bill the D-SNP first. Your HARP picks up what is left. An Office of Mental Health billing FAQ says the HARP pays 100 percent of your Medicare coinsurance and copays, so you should not get a bill.
2. The D-SNP network matters for Medicare-covered care. The D-SNP is a Medicare Advantage plan with its own provider list. Ask whether your therapist and psychiatrist are in the D-SNP’s Medicare network, not just the Medicaid one. Medicare Part B covers psychotherapy, and since January 2024 it pays marriage and family therapists and mental health counselors directly, so most licensed providers can be in a Medicare network. Whether yours is, only the plan can say.
3. Your HARP-only services stay on the Medicaid side. BH HCBS, CORE, and Health Home care management are Medicaid services. Medicare does not have them. They keep running through the HARP as before. Tell your care manager the date Medicare starts so nothing gets billed to the wrong side.

One more thing to ask. Original Medicare has a lifetime limit of 190 days in a psychiatric hospital. Medicare Advantage plans must cover what Original Medicare covers, but Medicare.gov does not say how that limit works inside a D-SNP. If inpatient psychiatric care is part of your history, ask the plan directly.

What you lose if you opt out

This is the part the consumer pages skip. The state FAQ says that if you opt out of the D-SNP, “you will not be able to remain in your MMC/HARP if you opt out, and instead, you will be disenrolled to Medicaid fee-for-service.” The Office of Mental Health’s June 2025 guidance for providers says what that means: people who are Medicare-eligible and not in a dual plan “will be disenrolled to Medicaid FFS” and “will no longer have access to services which are only available in Medicaid managed care such as Behavioral Health Home and Community Based Services (BH HCBS) and Community Oriented Recovery and Empowerment (CORE).”

Your Medicaid does not end. Your Medicare choices stay open: Original Medicare or another Medicare Advantage plan. But the HARP layer, the peer support, the CORE services, and the plan-based care management go away.

The same guidance lists what is still available in fee-for-service Medicaid:

• Health Home care coordination (the state has run a Health Home program for fee-for-service duals since 2013).
• Personalized Recovery Oriented Services (PROS) and ACCES-VR, for people who were using BH HCBS or CORE.
• Licensed outpatient mental health clinics.
• Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs).

Those are real services. They are not the same services. Ask your current care manager which of your supports would survive a move to fee-for-service and which would not. Get the answer in writing if you can.

Can you come back later?

Sometimes. The state FAQ says that if you did not join the D-SNP when it was first offered, “you may still have an opportunity to enroll in order to remain enrolled in your MMC/HARP plan.” The 2026 enrollment guide adds a pathway, starting April 2026, for people in fee-for-service Medicaid who join the aligned D-SNP to move back into IB-Dual. It depends on your plan having that pathway approved. Whether you would need a new HARP eligibility review is not stated anywhere official. Treat opting out as hard to undo, not impossible.

There is also no lock-in. The guide says IB-Dual “does not contain a lock in provision.” If you stay and it does not work, people with Medicare and Medicaid have monthly chances to change Medicare coverage. See our decision guide for the tradeoffs.

If your HARP’s company is not doing default enrollment right now

Default enrollment is switched on or off plan by plan on the state’s 2026 chart, and two New York City area companies are suspended (the note below names them). If your HARP is with one of them, the automatic letter generally does not come. Medicare still starts on its own, you choose your Medicare coverage yourself, and what happens to your HARP membership follows the state’s usual rules for people who get Medicare. The state also says voluntary IB-Dual enrollment can still be an option even when a plan’s default enrollment is paused. Ask your care manager, the plan, and the Office of Mental Health line what applies to you before the start date. The letter decoder has the chart rows and the state’s own wording.

Questions to ask before the start date

Ask your care manager first, then the plan number on the letter.

• “Will my BH HCBS and CORE services continue after Medicare starts? Who authorizes them, and does the number of hours change?”
• “Is my therapist in the D-SNP’s Medicare network? Is my psychiatrist? My clinic?”
• “Do any of my psychiatric medications need prior authorization under the D-SNP’s drug list?”
• “If I ever need a psychiatric hospital stay, how does the D-SNP handle the 190-day limit?”
• “If I opt out, which of my current services would end, and which have a fee-for-service version?”
• “Who is my single point of contact for both sides after the start date?”

Who to call

For HARP questions or help changing plans, the state points people to the Office of Mental Health’s Customer Relations line at 1-800-597-8481 (Mon–Fri, 9:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.). It is not a crisis line. If you are in crisis, call or text 988. For the Medicare side, HIICAP compares plans for free and is not tied to any plan. For the Medicaid side, New York Medicaid Choice can explain what fee-for-service would mean for you and can connect you to your plan.