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Enrollment Assistance

  • Designing Navigator Programs to Meet the Needs of Consumers: Duties and Competencies

    Tricia Brooks

    Exchanges are required to set up navigator programs and federal regulations specify a minimum set of duties and competencies required of navigators. However, states have to flexibility to expand the role of navigators to maximize the effectiveness and reach of their programs. By identifying and focusing on the needs of consumers upfront, Exchanges are better…

  • Federal Policy Makes a Difference in the Lives of Children and Families

    Joan Alker

    As many readers know, this week the annual Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey numbers were released and the number of uninsured persons actually declined for the first time since 2007 – by 1.4 million.  Since 2007 the number of uninsured adults has been growing – this year marks the first turnaround. This bit of good…

  • Creating a Job Description for Navigators

    Tricia Brooks

    We’ve posted several blogs over the past year about how navigators will play a critical role in helping consumers connect to expanded and more affordable health coverage options. In July, we launched a new series of briefs about navigators, the first of which, “Countdown to 2014: Designing Navigator Programs to Meet the Needs of Consumers,”…

  • Consumer Assistance in the Digital Age

    Tricia Brooks

    This brief provides recommendations on how states can connect consumers with health coverage programs like Medicaid and health insurance exchanges. It also explores how ways to connect consumers with health coverage options will evolve as new technological tools are deployed to facilitate the enrollment process. Where states’ use of new technology tools is limited, the authors…

  • Going for the Gold: Using All Tools Available to Help Consumers Connect to Coverage

    Tricia Brooks

    Just as millions of people are crowding the streets of London for the 2012 summer games, millions of people are expected to access new coverage opportunities when Exchanges open for business next year. Preparing for the influx of people who will gain new coverage options requires the same kind of careful planning and preparation as…

  • All Hands on Deck: Helping Consumers Navigate Coverage in 2013

    Tricia Brooks

    In 2014, millions of Americans will gain access to more affordable health coverage when Exchanges officially open for business and states take advantage of the historic opportunity to provide coverage to more low-income people through Medicaid. Paving the way to these sources of coverage will be a transformation of the eligibility and enrollment process through…

  • Countdown to 2014: Designing Navigator Programs to Meet the Needs of Consumers

    Tricia Brooks

    Exchanges are required to establish a navigator program that provides grants to community or consumer-focused nonprofits and other organizations to conduct outreach and help consumers and small employers connect to health coverage. States have broad flexibility in designing their programs as long as minimum federal guidelines are met. While similar to existing models of consumer assistance in Medicaid and Medicare, navigator…

  • Fresh Insights into Strategies and Messages for Enrollment in Medicaid and the Exchange

    Tricia Brooks

    The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently released new research to help states identify messages that will encourage enrollment in Medicaid in 2014 when minimum eligibility levels are expanded to 133% FPL.  The research also explores issues relating to state Exchanges, including attitudes about enrolling and choosing health insurance online. It was conducted in three states:…

  • Six States Explore More Efficient Ways to Provide Family Benefits

    Tricia Brooks

    For those of us who appreciate the opportunities and challenges states face in implementing the Affordable Care Act, it is easy to get wrapped up in making sure the expanded health coverage programs are streamlined and well coordinated. Much of the work ahead relies on having sophisticated IT systems that will revolutionize the eligibility and…

  • Final Exchange Rules Provide Roles for Both Brokers and Navigators

    Tricia Brooks

    One of the thorniest issues arising early on in states at the forefront of planning and implementing their Exchanges has been the role of brokers and navigators. In a number of states, brokers have contended that only “licensed brokers” should serve as navigators. On the other hand, consumer groups have maintained that brokers lack not…

  • A New Online Path to Children’s Health Care Coverage

    Guest

    Gene Lewit,  The David and Lucile Packard Foundation Living in Silicon Valley, I am used to reading about new tech wonders every day. In fact, today, we use the internet to do many things we used to do in person, by snailmail or on the telephone. This trend is encouraged by new technology, but has…

  • Medicaid Growth Slows; Medicaid Directors’ Innovative Efforts Expand

    CCFadmin

    By Tara Mancini Overall, the economic conditions surrounding state Medicaid budgets are continuing to improve, even as states make their way through the first full budget year after the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act enhanced FMAP funding expired.  In January 2012, unemployment hit a three year low of 8.3 percent, down from 9.4 percent a…

  • Performing Under Pressure: Annual Findings of a 50-State Survey of Eligibility, Enrollment, Renewal, and Cost-Sharing Policies in Medicaid and CHIP, 2011-2012

    CCFadmin

    Amid ongoing state budget pressures, a requirement in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that states maintain eligibility in Medicaid and CHIP was central in preserving coverage during 2011. In addition, more than half of states (29) made improvements in their programs. Most of these improvements involved greater use of technology to boost program efficiency and…

  • Talking Enrollment in the Windy City

    Guest

    By Jenny Sullivan, Enroll America My colleague Ani and I had the pleasure of attending the Second National Children’s Health Insurance Summit earlier this month in Chicago. The gathering, hosted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), was the official kick-off for the second round of outreach and enrollment grants that CMS awarded to 39…

  • Children’s Health is a National Priority

    Guest

    By Patrick McIntyre, United Way When it comes to the health of our nation, United Way cares about ensuring that everyone has health insurance, that folks eat well, and that Americans remain active and energized. Specifically for children, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program provide vital health care to children whose families don’t receive…

  • Comments on Proposed Medicaid, CHIP, and Exchange Eligibility Rules

    CCFadmin

    CCF comments on the proposed rule that implements sections of the ACA related to Medicaid and CHIP eligibility, enrollment simplification, and coordination.(Federal Register, 76: 51148-5199). CCF comments on the proposed rule on eligibility determinations for Exchange participation and insurance affordability programs and standards for employer participation in SHOP. (Federal Register 76: 51202- 51237). CCF addendum…

  • Out of the Shadows: Exchange/Medicaid IT 2.0 Guidance Says No Need for Duplicate Eligibility Systems

    Tricia Brooks

    In this week’s release of the Exchange/Medicaid IT 2.0 guidance, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) firmly squashed speculation that states will need to operate a “shadow eligibility system” for determining who is newly eligible for Medicaid and therefore qualifies for 100% federal funding. Future federal rulemaking is expected to propose other methods…

  • Presumptive Eligibility: Providing Access to Health Care Without Delay and Connecting Children to Coverage

    Tricia Brooks

    Presumptive eligibility is a state policy option that gives states the flexibility to train health care providers, schools and other community-based organizations and programs to screen eligibility and temporarily enroll eligible persons in Medicaid and CHIP. Currently 31 states use presumptive eligibility for pregnant women and 16 states enroll children presumptively. The following issue brief…

  • 90/10 Rule is Final: Time to Upgrade to a More Reliable & Efficient Model

    Tricia Brooks

    Remember driving an older model car that generally got you from point A to point B but not without stalling at a traffic light or having the heater cut out in the dead of winter? That‘s a bit like the old, tired legacy systems currently being used to determine eligibility for Medicaid (and other programs)…

  • New Tools for New Times: Using Cell Phones to Help Families Enroll and Stay Enrolled in Health Insurance

    Guest

    Mobile Technology:  Smart Tools to Increase Participation in Health Coverage.