MEDICAID ENROLLMENT IS UP SINCE COVID-19
Throughout the summer, we will be publishing the NDNRC Update on a biweekly basis.
A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation examines the increase in Medicaid and CHIP enrollment as the start of the COVID-19 pandemic began to hit the country. To learn more about the report or for a link to it, check out our news item.
While CMS has yet to allow for a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has a new issue brief which details how a SEP for COVID-19 would be helpful for those who have lost coverage due to the pandemic.
If you are working with individuals who are exploring their coverage options due to losing coverage as a result of COVID-19, SEPs are available for people who have lost coverage due to a loss of their job. AAHD has been working with Community Catalyst and other partners in conducting outreach to educate individuals about SEPs and Medicaid enrollment. Links to graphics like the one below which highlight SEPs for job loss and income changes can be found in the Community Catalyst Outreach Hub .
Families USA has a digital toolkit on COVID-19 and loss of health care coverage.
Recently, CMS did provide guidance which would allow insurance companies to provide temporary premium relief to consumers in the form of a credit for up to two months. You can read more about this guidance in the blog post by Health Affairs.
A new blog post from the Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms (CHIR) examines the problems that consumers can have trying to compare short-term duration plans.
If you missed it, AAHD conducted a survey in April assessing the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on access to healthcare on adults with a range of disabilities. All of the reports, summaries and infographics from the COVID-19 & Disability Survey are available on our COVID-19 & Disability Survey webpage. Links to all our COVID-19 videos as well as other resources on COVID-19 can be found on our COVID-19 resource page.
In addition to the AAHD COVID-19 & Disability Survey, another project with which we are involved – the Collaborative on Health Reform and Independent Living (CHRIL) in partnership with IL-NET and the National Council on Independent Living, invited all CIL administrators in April, May and June to complete a CHRIL/IL-NET COVID-19 Needs Assessment. A summary of these survey findings and a downloadable report are now available on the CHRIL website. The CHRIL hosted a webinar last month to discuss these survey results. That webinar has been archived.
Are you looking for local partners to help with outreach to the disability community? The NDNRC has Community Outreach Collaboratives (COCs) which work to increase collaborations in the community, dissemination and outreach efforts and enrollment of people with disabilities in the ACA marketplace. You can find a COC, on the COC page of our website.
Archives of our weekly updates are available on the NDNRC website.