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  4. Help Your Patients Enroll in Health Insurance

Help Your Patients Enroll in Health Insurance

    Help your Medicaid patients keep their coverage

     

    Medicaid continuous coverage protections are set to expire soon after the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency ends, and your patients may need to renew their coverage. 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 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. Many people have also been able to get financial assistance to help them afford the plans offered by the marketplaces. Physicians and their staffs can help get the word out about enrollment opportunities and educate their patients about community-based health insurance enrollment assistance. To help you help your patients make informed health insurance choices, 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 marketplaces.

    Open enrollment for 2022 starts on November 1, 2021 and ends on January 15, 2022, for states that use the federal marketplace. The deadline for states administering their own exchanges may vary slightly from the federal enrollment period; please refer to our state-specific resources to find the exact enrollment period for each state. 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. Health insurance shoppers can visit www.healthcare.gov or call 1-800-318-2596 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: 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 and their patients 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 State Guides to Helping Patients Enroll: Find information you can give to your patients to help them connect with the appropriate people to answer their questions about health insurance.

    ACP Health Insurance Enrollment Comment Center

    Have questions or comments about ACA health insurance marketplaces and enrollment? Contact ACP staff at policy-regs@acponline.org to share your thoughts.

    Other Resources

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