Strategic Planning & Timelines
Narrow Results By:
- 04/30/2015
Since the Great Recession peaked in 2010, the economic picture has steadily improved, and in 2013, GDP increased relative to 2012 and the unemployment rate fell but remained fairly high at 7.4 percent. In addition, the uninsured rate decreased slightly (0.1 percentage point) in 2013, continuing the trend from 2011 and 2012. Despite these improvements, rates of coverage through employer sponsored insurance have declined since 2010, though more slowly in recent years than at the height of the recession. Gains in coverage since 2010 have been largely due to increases in coverage through public programs such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). This brief further examines coverage patterns for the nonelderly population from 2008 through 2013 using data from the American Community Survey.
- 04/13/2015
Across the country’s four largest states, uninsured rates vary for adults ages 19 to 64: 12 percent of New Yorkers, 17 percent of Californians, 21 percent of Floridians, and 30 percent of Texans lacked health coverage in 2014. Differences also extend to the proportion of residents reporting problems getting needed care because of cost, which was significantly lower in New York and California compared with Florida and Texas. These differences stem from a variety of factors, including whether states have expanded eligibility for Medicaid, the state’s uninsured rate prior to the Affordable Care Act taking effect, differences in the cost protections provided by private health insurance, and demographics.
- 04/13/2015
The ACA required states to make large-scale changes to their eligibility systems for Medicaid in order to create streamlined processing with the health plan coverage and subsidies that are available through health insurance marketplaces. To support these changes, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services made enhanced federal Medicaid matching funds available for states to update or build their systems, and states have also been given the opportunity of a cost allocation waiver that allows them to temporarily use this enhanced funding to support technology and services improvements to eligibility systems shared by Medicaid and other health and human services programs. This issue brief highlights examples of technology and services innovations that states are implementing in support of integration among health and human services programs and discusses common themes across efforts.
- 03/30/2015Enacted against a background of growing public- and private-sector interest in integrating enrollment, retention, and eligibility determination for health and human services programs, the Affordable Care Act included provisions specifically calling for an expansion of such efforts, using 21st-century information technology (IT) to improve consumer experience and streamline enrollment while lowering administrative costs and protecting program integrity. This report, which summarizes a multi-faceted research project sponsored by the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, describes integration efforts to date and explores promising strategies for the future.
- 03/30/2015The ACA is changing the traditional role of charity care programs as safety net providers. The ACA’s Medicaid expansion and subsidized marketplace plans are giving millions of uninsured Americans options instead of charity care. This brief explores how four charity care programs in different states – CareLink (TX), Portico Healthnet (MN), Ingham Health Plan (MI), and Kaiser Permanente’s Charitable Health Coverage program (multiple states) – are responding to the changing health care environment. It examines their benefit packages; membership and eligibility; outreach and enrollment strategies; financial models; and new roles in providing consumer assistance.
