October 1, 2013, when millions of individuals will begin to enroll in new health insurance options, is less than a year away, and many of those consumers will be brand new to the health care system. Many states are hard at work figuring out how best to develop effective messages about obtaining coverage and disseminate them to a diverse audience of residents and stakeholders. In an earlier State Refor(u)m Weekly Insight, we profiled some helpful lessons from CHIP. read more
System Messages
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Medicaid Expansion: Sizing up Coverage in States
The Supreme Court’s decision on health reform earlier this summer triggered a new round of research, discussion, and analysis among state health policy makers. The ruling allows states to opt in or out of expanding their Medicaid program up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), because HHS can no longer impose penalties on those states that decide not to implement this expansion. Around the country, states are at work examining factors that will potentially impact their decision to expand Medicaid or not. read more
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Oklahoma: Online Enrollment is Grand!
When states working on health reform think “Oklahoma,” they are thinking about a state pioneering eligibility and enrollment innovations and not the award-winning musical. In September 2010, Oklahoma launched the first real-time Medicaid eligibility and enrollment system in the nation, making the days of paper applications and long, cumbersome verification processes a thing of the past. Today, Oklahoma handles about 30,000-35,000 applications a month through an automated central rules engine and data exchange. read more
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Eligibility Simplification is Far from Simple
Yesterday, more than 500 listeners from 48 states and the District of Columbia tuned in to a webinar on tackling health reform’s eligibility challenges. Oklahoma, New York, and Massachusetts discussed readiness for 2014, how simplification has improved enrollment and retention, and what the federal government can do to support simplification efforts. read more
