ASPE REPORT HIGHLIGHTS COVERAGE GAINS FOR DISABILITY COMMUNITY
Earlier this summer, the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) released an issue brief which looked at health insurance coverage for working age adults with disabilities in the years following the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The brief demonstrates how effective the ACA has been in increasing coverage opportunities for people with disabilities. To read more about the brief’s findings or for a link to the report, check out our blog post.
August marked the end of the COVID Special Enrollment Period (SEP) for states operating on the federally facilitated marketplace (healthcare.gov) as well as many of the state-based marketplaces. That doesn’t mean that there are not opportunities to enroll in health care coverage if people do not have it. Individuals who were prevented from completing enrollment during the COVID SEP could still be eligible to enroll under a FEMA SEP. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has written a FAQ sheet on how people could qualify for the FEMA SEP.
While the COVID SEP did end for the federally facilitated marketplace and some state-based marketplaces, there still are some state-based marketplaces (SBMs) which are running a COVID SEP. You can find out what SBMs are still running a COVID SEP by checking out our blog post.
At the end of last month, CMS announced the 60 organizations which were going to be receiving funding to act as navigators in states on the federally facilitated marketplace. You can read more about these navigator awards and access the full list of organizations receiving the navigator grants in our news item.
For those that do have coverage, now is the time to make sure that people are making the most out of their coverage. In an effort to highlight health insurance enrollment, AAHD has a project with Community Catalyst in conducting outreach to educate individuals about health insurance enrollment through the ACA Marketplace and Medicaid. This outreach includes graphics like the one below which highlight the benefits of coverage. These graphics are available in the Community Catalyst Outreach Hub.
In anticipation of the upcoming open enrollment period, CMS has recently released a new toolkit which highlights the benefits of coverage. Check out the “Enrollment Toolkit: Help Consumers Choose the Right Plan.”
If you missed our announcement last month, AAHD will be working with CBPP again to provide technical assistance to navigators and other health insurance enrollment assisters. As part of this work, CBPP will once again be conducting its fall “Beyond the Basics” webinar series and they have announced the schedule for nine webinars. The webinars begin this Tuesday, September 14 and will run through the middle of October. This includes a webinar on October 14 which AAHD will be presenting on “Best Practices for Assisting People with Disabilities”. The topics of the scheduled webinars as well as dates and times and links to register can be found in our news item.
Throughout this year, there has been quite a bit happening regarding the Biden administration’s attempts to undo some of the Trump administration’s changes to the Medicaid program. The Georgetown University Center for Children and Families has a new blog post in a series which has been following these developments.
A report from CBPP examines how closing the Medicaid coverage gap could improve access to individuals who require coverage for behavioral health.
Archives of our weekly updates are available on the NDNRC website.