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 […]
Eighty-six phone calls! That’s how many calls it took new parents Ari Friedman and Tara Mendola of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to finally obtain Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage for their son. (And we all know new parents have nothing better to do than sit on hold!) Ari and Tara are both graduate students who were […]
I frequently marvel at the deep Medicaid and CHIP policy expertise of so many of our state and national partners. And when someone’s knowledge doesn’t run as deep, they often make up for it in their passion for expanding health care coverage. Whether you’re a seasoned advocate or new to public health coverage, it doesn’t […]
Last call for comments on the HHS proposed navigator standards released last month. Comments are due by 5:00pm ET today, May 6th. The rules outline the conflict of interest and training standards that will apply to federally-funded navigators in 34 states and in-person assisters in states with state-based or consumer partnership exchanges. In addition to […]
By Jocelyn Guyer HHS released a new version of its model applications for health care coverage this morning. The new models represent a major step forward – they are much shorter, crisper and easier to fill out than the draft versions that were released in January of this year. The new model applications also are […]
