Health Plan Member Materials Translationfor Medicaid and Medicare Advantage Plans — Pashto, Dari and 22 More Afghan Languages

Yes, when Pashto or Dari is the primary language of at least 5% of the people in a plan benefit package's service area (42 CFR 422.2267(a)(2)). Once the plan knows a member's primary language, required materials in that language must keep reaching the member. Integrated D-SNPs must also meet their state's Medicaid translation standard.

At a minimum, provider directories, enrollee handbooks, appeal and grievance notices, and denial and termination notices, in every language the state names as prevalent in the plan's service area (42 CFR 438.10(d)(3)). Critical materials also carry taglines, and oral interpretation must be free in every language.

Start with your own enrollment, call center and interpreter records. Census tables count Dari inside “Persian (incl. Farsi, Dari)” and give Pashto no row of its own, so they undercount both. Our language needs review combines your data with census tables and state lists, by service area.

No. Dari and Iranian Persian (Farsi) share a script and most grammar, but health vocabulary and phrasing differ, and Afghan members recognize Farsi at once. Send Afghan Dari to Dari readers. We never substitute one for the other.

No U.S. certification exam tests translation from English into Pashto or Dari, so we set the standard ourselves: every linguist is assessed in the variety they work in, trained in U.S. health coverage, and checked by a second linguist on every file. Each file you receive comes with a certificate of accuracy.

Yes. CMS's CY 2027 final rule removed the Medicare Advantage rule's own notice paragraph and pointed plans to the same HHS obligation. Under 45 CFR 92.11, covered plans give the notice in English and at least the 15 most common limited-English languages in each state where they operate.

Yes, when English source files lock on schedule. We plan backward from your mail dates, translate and set the files in August and early September, and hand over print-ready Pashto and Dari files alongside your English versions.

Once your approved templates are translated, a single notice needs only its variable fields, such as the reason, the service and the dates, translated and reviewed. For Pashto and Dari that is typically the same business day, which suits expedited decisions.

Only with human review. Federal rules require a qualified human translator to review machine translation of critical content (45 CFR 92.201(c)(3)), and machine Pashto and Dari often mistranslate coverage terms. We use AI for checks, never for unreviewed release.

We record audio, short videos and phone scripts in their language, linked from the printed letter by QR code, and provide large print and accessible files. Free oral interpretation in any language remains available to members under Medicaid rules and Section 1557.

Yes. Women translate, review and voice women's health materials, and member testers are matched by gender and variety. Written files use standard Pashto and Afghan Dari that every variety reads; audio is recorded in the variety your members speak.

With trauma-informed wording reviewed by our behavioral health lead. Many Afghan members lived through the Afghan war, displacement and moral trauma, also called moral injury, and stigma shapes how they read mental health benefits. For interpreting in care, see our mental health and trauma-informed interpreting service.

Some of them. From October 1, 2026, federal Medicaid eligibility for noncitizens narrows to lawful permanent residents and a few other groups, so Afghan humanitarian parolees who have not adjusted status are affected, while Special Immigrant Visa holders, admitted as permanent residents, are not. Medicare enrollees outside the eligible groups lose coverage on January 4, 2027. Termination and renewal notices must still reach members in their language. This is general information, not legal advice.