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Do YOU understand the new coverage choices under the ACA?

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Arianne Slagle

Coverage choices

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), more than 1 million uninsured  New Yorkers will newly have access to affordable health insurance options starting this fall.  That’s a lot of folks who will need to wade through a lot of new information in the coming months.

HCFANY will be holding a briefing in New York City on Thursday, March 7th at the Interchurch Center from 9:00 am – 11:30 am to go over the necessary public outreach and enrollment efforts that will need to happen in order to ensure that the greatest number of New Yorkers benefit from the ACA.  Specifically, we will be going over the following questions:

  • How will New Yorkers learn about new health coverage options?
  • How is New York State going to reach out to and sign up the uninsured?
  • What will individuals, families, and small employers in New York l need to know?
  • What’s to be gained if we do it all right  (…and at risk if we don’t)?
  • What can our elected officials do to help make it go smoothly?
  • How can groups across New York contribute and participate?

This meeting is open to all New York members, allies, colleagues and new friends in the NYC area.

For more information, or to RSVP, click here!

 

Filed under: ACA, Comprehensive Coverage, Employer Sponsored Health Insurance, Insurance reform, Medicaid, New York Health Benefit Exchange, New York Health Reform, Underinsured, Uninsured, young adult | Tagged: , , | Comments Off

The Basic Health Plan sounds like the right choice

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Arianne Slagle

The choice is pretty darn clear

Under the ACA, states are allowed the option of creating a Basic Health Plan (BHP) for low-income adults who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid.  Ordinarily, if these folks don’t have employer-sponsored coverage then come 2014 they will be able to buy insurance through the Exchange with the help of federal tax credits.  But, even with the tax credits this coverage may still be too expensive for them. The BHP then would act as a bridge between the free or low-cost Medicaid coverage and the higher priced options available on the Exchange.

Don’t be fooled by the name though - there is nothing “basic” about it.  According to the ACA, BHP coverage must be as affordable and comprehensive as what these adults would have gotten on the Exchange.  In New York, coverage would likely resemble that of the Family Health Plus program.

New York currently offers public coverage to low-income adults through its Family Health Plus program, the cost of which is split with the federal government.  New York also pays for Medicaid coverage for low-income immigrants without help from the federal government.  Through the BHP program, New York would be able to cover both of these groups and have the federal government pay for it all.  This would save the state between $500 million and $1 billion per year.

Sounds great, right? Problem is, the federal government still hasn’t released guidance on this program, and isn’t planning on doing so anytime soon.  Unfortunately, state policymakers won’t commit to the program until they are sure of all the details.  So, until that happens, it is unlikely that New York will get any of the cost-savings and affordability protections that the BHP has to offer.

HCFANY has created a policy brief on this issue to explain it in detail, urge federal policymakers to release BHP guidance, and provide recommendations to state policymakers. 

Click here to read HCFANY’s policy brief, titled “The Basic Health Program Option in the Affordable Care Act.”

 

Filed under: ACA, Affordable, Comprehensive Coverage, Federal health reform, Immigrants, Insurance Exchange, Insurance reform, Medicaid | Tagged: , | Comments Off

A new year, a new round of goodies from the ACA

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Arianne Slagle

For you!

A lot of folks think that 2014 is when the Affordable Care Act will really kick into effect, and yes, that is when the health insurance Exchanges will become fully operational.  And yes, those are a big part of the ACA.  But, they’re not the whole thing!

Many great things have already happened in the years since the law was implemented, including small business tax credits, a new coverage option for uninsured folks with pre-existing conditions, free preventive care, and allowing young people to stay on their parents’ plan until the age of 26.

And, 2013 will be no exception! There are more good things in store for us this year.  Here is a roundup of some of what’s to come:

  • More subsidies for seniors who hit the donut hole:  Seniors who hit the Medicare Part D coverage gap will now get federal subsidies for brand-name prescriptions (in addition to the 50% manufacturer brand-name discount that went into effect in 2011).
  • Improving Preventive Care:  State Medicaid programs that offer free or low cost preventive services will get increased federal funding to do so.  This means that low-income folks in many states will have better access to vaccinations, tests like colonoscopies and mammograms and routine screenings for high blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol.  
  • Increased Medicaid payments to doctors: On January 1st, Medicaid payments for primary care doctors were brought up to Medicare levels. In New York, this will mean an estimated increase of 156% in Medicaid payments to doctors and will help to ensure low-income New Yorkers have sufficient access to doctors.  For more info on this, check out the Kaiser Family Foundation report titled, “How Much Will Medicaid Physician Fees for Primary Care Rise in 2013? Evidence from a 2012 Survey of Medicaid Physician Fees”
  • CHIP funding will be extended: the ACA will authorize funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through 2015 (extended from 2013).  In New York, this program is called Child Health Plus. This will allow roughly 400,000 kids in New York to keep their free or low-cost health insurance.   

Of course, not all of the ACA changes happening in 2013 will be a clear-cut “goody.”  2013 will also see a number of tax changes, including an increase in Medicare taxes for higher income earners (in order to boost up the Medicare trust), an exise tax of 2.3% on the sale of medical devices, and changes to FSA limits.  For a full list of changes, check out the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Implementation timeline.

 

Filed under: ACA, Comprehensive Coverage, Medicaid, Medicare | Tagged: , , , , , , | Comments Off

New York’s Uninsured Children Don’t Have to Wait Until 2014

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Arianne Slagle

Nationally, the number of uninsured children decreased to 5.5 million in 2011 from 6.4 million in 2009, according to a new report by the Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families. New York has contributed to that success by extending coverage to more children through Medicaid and Child Health Plus. The state has successfully reduced the number of uninsured children from about 205,000 in 2009 to about 181,000 in 2011.

“Children need health care coverage to grow and thrive so this is good news for New York and the nation,” said Joan Alker, Co-Executive Director of the Georgetown University research center.

New York has made progress but still ranks 6th in terms of states with the highest number of uninsured children in the nation. Half of all uninsured children live in Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, Arizona and New York.

“While the uninsured rate for New York children is heading in the right direction, we can do more toto ensure that every child has the coverage they need and deserve,” according to Kate Breslin, Executive Director of the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy.

About 96 percent of New York children have health care coverage while the success of Medicaid’s companion program, Medicare, has brought the insured rate for seniors up to about 99 percent.

In New York, school-age children are more likely to be uninsured than those age 6 and under.

“Most of New York’s uninsured children are already eligible for coverage through Medicaid or Child Health Plus but haven’t enrolled because they don’t realize they qualify or have been unable to overcome bureaucratic barriers to enrollment,” Lorraine Gonzalez, Director of Health Policy at the Children’s Defense Fund – New York.

New York is now working on making the enrollment process easier by removing unnecessary paperwork requirements and setting up an online application. Those improvements are expected to be completed by 2014 as part of the Affordable Care Act implementation.

“There’s been a lot of talk about all the help uninsured people can expect in 2014 but New York’s uninsured kids don’t have to wait that long,” said Kate Breslin. “They are very likely to be eligible for affordable coverage right now.”

To apply for public health insurance in New York, click here to find a Facilitated Enroller near you.

The Georgetown University Center for Children and Families (CCF) is an independent, nonpartisan policy and research center. Click here for the full report.

Filed under: ACA, Affordable, Children, Medicaid, Uninsured | Comments Off

Strength in Numbers

Posted on September 12, 2012 by Arianne Slagle

Census data released today shows the percentage of uninsured New Yorkers dropped significantly for the first time in years, to 12.2% in 2011 from 15.1% in 2010. Compared with other states that means in 2011 New York had the 15th lowest percentage of uninsured in the country. (In 2010, New York ranked 31st. Massachusetts is still in the lead with only 3.4% uninsured in 2011.)

Nationally, the rate of uninsured fell from 16.3% to 15.7%, from 50 million to 48.6 million. This change is due largely to increased utilization of Medicaid in New York (up from 21.3% in 2010 to 24.1% in 2011) and nationally (up from 15.8% in 2010 to 16.5% in 2011).

These numbers demonstrate the importance of strengthening our public programs to reach the needs of people, particularly in hard economic times. Especially considering children in poverty have a higher uninsured rate (13.8%) than the rate for all children (9.4%).

As we might have guessed from the 2012 Employer Health Benefits Survey  that indicated more young adults are getting on their parent’s plan,  the Census data showed the share of uninsured 19- to 25-year-olds declined by 539,000 (from 29.8% in 2010 to 27.7% in 2011).

New York still has over 2.3 million uninsured. While that is a great improvement from the nearly 2.9 million uninsured the previous year,  there is much work to be done. But the numbers don’t lie. The ACA is working.

Filed under: ACA, Medicaid, Uninsured, young adult | Comments Off

Put on your thinking caps! New HCFANY webinar next week!

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Arianne Slagle

 Are you still feeling confused about the recent Supreme Court Decision on the Affordable Care Act (ACA)? Still wondering what this means for New York?

Well,  you’re in luck! HCFANY will be hosting a webinar next Wednesday, July 25th at noon to update our members and fellow stakeholders on the Supreme Court decision. Join in to find out what the Court decided, what it means for New Yorkers, and to ask any questions you may have. 

This webinar is free and open to anyone who wishes to join, but space is limited. RSVP today to reserve your spot!

 Click here to RSVP

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.

Hope you can make it!

 

Filed under: ACA, Federal health reform, Insurance Exchange, Insurance reform, Medicaid, New York Health Reform, Uninsured | Tagged: , , , , | Comments Off

Medicaid, the Supreme Court, and the coersion theory.

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Arianne Slagle

Unless you’ve been sleeping under a rock (or perhaps in a tent down at Zucotti park) you’ve probably heard by now that the Supreme Court has decided to hear one of the cases challenging the health reform law.  Specifically, it will be looking at a few pieces of the law, including the requirement that everyone have insurance (individual mandate), and the Medicaid expansion. 

Nobody was really surprised about the individual mandate bit, but taking up the Medicaid issue is one decision that has raised a number of eyebrows.  Basically, the issue at hand is that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will expand Medicaid to cover adults who earn up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level (around $15,000 per year) beginning in 2014.

States that don’t already cover these folks will have the entire cost of this expansion covered by the federal government for the first three years.  After that the state’s share will increase gradually until it reaches 10%.  While states can always choose not to expand their program, this could put them at risk of losing their exising Medicaid funding.  So opponents of this provision are saying that the possibility of losing a significant chunk of funding makes the whole thing some sort of coercive action on behalf of the federal government.

This “coersion theory” argument isn’t a new one, and has been brought up in a number of unrelated cases in lower courts.  But, a federal law has never actually been stricken down on these grounds and to do so could also call into question any number of other federal programs.  So, this issue is definitely one to watch.

For more on this, and other issues surrounding the recent Supreme Court decision the hear the ACA challenge, here are a few links from around the web:

 

 

Filed under: ACA, Federal health reform, Medicaid | Tagged: , , , | Comments Off

Thanks MRT, for bringing NY one step closer to health care equality!

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Arianne Slagle

Earlier this week, Governor Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) voted in favor of recommending to streamline and improve access to Emergency Medicaid as part of a series of proposals aimed to reduce disparities in healthcare throughout New York State.  This, along with several of these other measures, has long been a part of HCFANY’s “to-do” list.  In fact, HCFANY recently issued a memo of support to the MRT in favor of this proposal.

Along with streamlining Emergency Medicaid, the package includes proposals to:

  • streamline and improve access to Emergency Medicaid;
  • provide reimbursement to hospitals, clinics and community health centers that make language assistance services available to their limited English proficient patients (LEP);
  • ensure that prescription drug labels are easier to understand for patients with low health literacy, seniors and LEP communities, among others;
  • improve data collection on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability and housing status by health providers, consistent with federal health reform;
  • eliminate discrimination against Medicaid beneficiaries at major teaching hospitals in New York State; and
  • reform the state’s distribution of charity care funding to hospitals to ensure that safety net providers who serve the uninsured are appropriately and equitably compensated.

This is great news for New York and as these proposals seek to reduce health disparities and improve access to care for people of color, immigrants, people with disabilities and LGBQT populations, among others.

But there’s still work to do on this!  In order for these proposals to take effect, they need to be included in the Governor’s upcoming budget.  Here’s what you can do to help make this happen:

  1. Contact members of the Medicaid Redesign Team and thank them for voting “yes” on the Health Disparities package of proposals.  A list of all members can be found by clicking here.  
  2. Contact Governor Andrew Cuomo and tell him to put the Health Disparities package of proposals – including the ”streamlinging Emergency Medicaid” proposal - into his Executive Budget.  Call the Governor at (518) 474-8390 or email him here.

 

Filed under: Comprehensive Coverage, Disability, Governor Cuomo, Immigrants, Insurance reform, Medicaid, New York Health Reform, New York State Budget, Underinsured, Women, young adult | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Comments Off

You asked for it!

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Arianne Slagle

What better way to work off that candy coma then with a bit of good, old-fashioned reading?  And lucky for you, we just happen to have a whole stack of available reading materials posted here just for you!  See, while most folks were out there dressing up as vixens or Voltrons or whatnot, HCFANY was burning the midnight oil to get our comments in to HHS on the proposed regulations on several provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

So yes, we got them all in on time and here are the fruits of our efforts.  These will also be posted on our publications page, and on our health reform implementation page in case you want to come back and read them later.  Maybe if you can’t sleep tonight, you know, it might be nice to drink a warm glass of milk and snuggle down to read our comments to the proposed rulemaking on eligibility determinations.  Or whatever.  No pressure…

To keep things in context, the proposed rulemaking has been attached as well.  Read on!

 

Filed under: ACA, Comprehensive Coverage, Employer Sponsored Health Insurance, Federal health reform, Insurance reform, Medicaid, Premiums, Small Business | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Comments Off

BIG problems need BIG solutions

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Arianne Slagle

Sometimes things that seem scary at first can turn out to be really helpful, right?  Take insurance exchanges, for example.

The final recommendations of the Program Streamlining and State/Local Responsibilities Work Group of the State’s Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) are now out and up on the web.  As you may or may not know, this group was charged with the following duties:

  • Identify the administrative hurdles that prevent New Yorkers from accessing the health care coverage they need.
  • Explore ways to make enrollment easier by reducing paperwork and other administrative requirements while keeping in line with health reform.
  • Consider consolidating programs to reduce confusion and administrative costs, with an emphasis on long term care.

Number one recommendation: New York should establish its own Exchange to best meet the needs of its residents and small businesses.

 Enough said.

To access the final report of the Program Streamlining and State/Local Responsibilities Work Group, click here. 

 Behavioral Health Reform Workgroup recommendations are also up, if you’re interested!

Filed under: ACA, Comprehensive Coverage, Insurance reform, Medicaid | Tagged: , , , | Comments Off

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