Preparing for Outreach and Enrollment under the Affordable Care Act: Lessons from the States – Briefing and Panel Discussion
With open enrollment beginning Oct. 1, many states are preparing outreach and enrollment efforts to help millions of uninsured Americans gain coverage in the Affordable Care Act’s new health insurance Marketplaces or through the expansion of state Medicaid programs. Effective outreach and enrollment efforts will be key to ensuring that new coverage opportunities translate into increased coverage.
As part of the Kaiser Family Foundation’s ongoing work examining key ACA implementation issues, a public briefing was held on Tuesday, September 24 that examined the lessons, challenges and successes of three leading states — Maryland, Nevada and Oregon – in pursuing such efforts. The event and several new issue briefs prepared by the Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured as part of its Getting Into Gear for 2014 series highlighted insights drawn from states’ efforts to build new eligibility and enrollment systems, create state-based Marketplaces, prepare for the Medicaid expansion and establish enrollment assistance resources and marketing and outreach plans.
The briefing looked at the central role that community health centers played in outreach and enrollment in Massachusetts following enactment of that state’s health reform law in 2006. Their experiences with enrollment assistance to individuals and communities disadvantaged by poverty, poor health status, language differences and other barriers offer important lessons for other state and community-based efforts to reach and enroll low-income uninsured Americans in health coverage.
Moderated by:
• Diane Rowland, Executive Vice President of the Kaiser Family Foundation and Executive Director of the Foundation’s Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU)
Panelists included:
• Samantha Artiga, Associate Director, KCMU
• Kathleen Westcoat, President and CEO, HealthCare Access Maryland in Baltimore, Maryland
• Samantha Shepherd, Outreach and Enrollment Strategist at Cover Oregon in Portland, Oregon
• Niki King, Executive Vice President, Member Experience, Access to Healthcare Network in Reno, Nevada
• Manny Lopes, CEO of East Boston Neighborhood Health Center in Boston, Massachusetts
Event Date
Sep 24, 2013 at 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. ET