Successful state strategies in streamlining eligibility and coordinating enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP are the heart and soul of the latest round of proposed regulations issued for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). While we’re still wading through the three sets of proposed rules released today by CMS, it’s clear that these regulations take a number of positive steps forward to remove administrative barriers to coverage and reduce churning.
The ACA’s vision for seamless, coordinated coverage is reflected in the details of the regulation and answer a number of questions states have as they move forward in building the important IT systems that will support these goals.
In the coming weeks, we’ll be writing more about these details, so stay tuned. In the meantime, we applaud CMS for taking the lessons learned in covering kids – that have enabled our nation to provide coverage for a historic high 90% of America’s children – and applying those lessons going forward to fulfill the promise of the ACA for families.
Child health advocates can be proud of the fact that our collective efforts on the past decade and more in tackling red tape and focusing on the importance of retention has paid off in a big way.
The full regulations can be found here: http://www.ofr.gov/inspection.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
But if you’re looking for cliff notes, here are several related factsheets:
- Easy, Simple Access to Coverage for Consumers and Small Businesses: http://www.healthcare.gov/news/factsheets/exchanges08122011b.html
- Health Insurance Premium Tax Credit: /wp-content/uploads/pdfs/36BFactSheet.PDF
- Medicaid Eligibility: http://www.healthcare.gov/news/factsheets/exchanges08122011c.html
