By Julie Silas, Consumers Union Over the past two years, like many of you, I have been expending my energy on fine tuning important policy positions that will impact millions of people (hello, please, no more proposed regulations!). While I have tried to wade into the practical, concrete functionality that will be essential for those […]
Now that both state-based and the federally-facilitated marketplaces are well on their way to recruiting and selecting navigators, attention turns to training and support. Effective training is critical to ensuring that the needs of consumers, particularly low-income, hard-to-reach and vulnerable populations, are met. But training is only one element of creating and supporting a high-functioning […]
Even as states across the country continue to evaluate their options for implementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), almost all states are moving to take advantage of significant federal funding to modernize their Medicaid information technology (IT) infrastructures in response to the new law. The decisions being made now and in the months ahead will […]
By Martha Heberlein In case you missed it, it was a beautiful day in Washington on Friday and some exciting news from CMS made the day all the brighter – a State Health Official letter they released provides states with some tools to enroll eligible folks more efficiently. Understanding that states will be facing the […]
I was ready to wrap up this blog series last week when HHS announced an additional $150 million in funding for “Outreach and Enrollment Assisters” in community health centers to help connect consumers to coverage. There seems to be a wealth of assisters: navigators, in-person assisters, certified application counselors and now health center assisters. And […]
With new high-performing IT systems, states will be able to use cost-effective, trusted and secure electronic data sources to verify eligibility including income, citizenship, immigration status, and other criteria. States have some discretion in how they verify eligibility (i.e. what data sources they use) but they cannot require individuals to provide documentation or more information […]
