Help Your Patients Enroll in Health Insurance

Help your Medicaid patients keep their coverage

 

In March 2020, CMS temporarily waived certain Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) requirements and conditions. This helped prevent people with Medicaid and CHIP from losing their health coverage during the pandemic. States will soon be required to restart Medicaid and CHIP eligibility reviews. To minimize the loss of coverage, CMS is working with states and other stakeholders, like ACP, to inform people about renewing their coverage and exploring other available health insurance options if they no longer qualify for Medicaid or CHIP. You can help your patients determine if they still qualify for coverage by encouraging them to:

Update their contact information: Your patients should make sure their Medicaid or CHIP program has their current address, phone number, email, and other contact information.

Check the mail: Your patients should check their mail for letters from their Medicaid or CHIP program about their coverage.

Visit Medicaid.gov/renewals or call their Medicaid program: Your patients can visit the Medicaid website or call their Medicaid office to update their information or ask for help.

More Information: Medicaid and CHIP Continuous Enrollment Unwinding: A Communications Toolkit

Background

Since opening in 2013, the ACA's health insurance marketplaces have helped millions of people shop for and enroll in health coverage. You can help educate your patients about open enrollment and community-based enrollment assistance. To help you help your patients make informed choices about their coverage options, as well as to answer questions that you might have, the American College of Physicians has put together a series of documents to address questions about the changes in healthcare coverage brought about by the ACA.

Open enrollment for 2023 starts on November 1, 2022, and ends on January 15, 2023, for states that use the federal marketplace. The deadline in states that operate their own health insurance marketplaces may vary slightly from the federal enrollment period states administering their own exchanges may vary slightly from the federal enrollment period. After the open enrollment period, special enrollment opportunities are available under certain circumstances such as a change in family status (including marriage or birth of a child), residence, or income. People who need coverage can visit www.healthcare.gov or call 1-800-318-2596 (TTY: 1-855-889-4325) to see if they qualify for a special enrollment period. Medicaid enrollment is open throughout the year. 

Resources

Questions and Answers About Health Insurance Marketplaces and the Affordable Care Act: This document provides information on what’s new with the Affordable Care Act’s coverage provisions, including information about COVID-19-related policies.

Affordable Care Act Issues Physicians Need to Know: This document provides practical information to physicians regarding COVID-19 coverage, provider network adequacy issues, the health insurance appeals process, information about cost sharing, and how physicians can help their patients acquire non-covered drugs.

ACP's Guide to Helping Patients Enroll in Coverage: A one-page document with essential information for patients on open enrollment, where to shop for coverage, and who to ask for help. The document can be printed out or posted to your practice website.

Other Resources