Benefit Access and Health Care Reform Resources
Health care reform has the potential to dramatically change the way low-income individuals and families apply for and receive other benefits, such as nutritional assistance and the earned income tax credit. Below are some helpful resources to aid in learning about how health care reform will affect low-income individuals and families in terms of benefits access and the opportunities to weigh in on the choices that the federal government and states will be making over the next years.
NEW:Coordinating Human Services Programs with Health Reform Implementation: A Toolkit for State Agencies - January Angeles, Shelby Gonzales, and Alicia Kone, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (June 2012)
Moving to 21st-Century Public Benefits: Emerging Options, Great Promise, and Key Challenges - Stan Dorn, Urban Institute and Elizabeth Lower-Basch, CLASP for the Coalition for Access and Opportunity, (May 2012)
Toolkit: Moving to 21st-Century Public Benefits: A Menu of Options - Sarah Fass Hiatt for the Coalition for Access and Opportunity, (May 2012)
CLASP/Coalition to Promote Access and Opportunity Resources:
- How Human Services Programs and Their Clients Can Benefit from National Health Reform Legislation - Stan Dorn, Urban Institute and the Coalition to Promote Access and Opportunity, (Oct. 2011)
- The Health and Human Service Integration Opportunity Tool Kit - Coalition to Promote Access and Opportunity, (Oct. 2011)
- Webinar Resources: How Human Services Programs and Their Clients Can Benefit from National Health Reform Legislation (Nov. 2011)
- "Modernized Benefit Systems: California Leads the Way" - CLASP In Focus (Feb. 28, 2012)
- "Leveraging Opportunities in Health Care Reform" - CLASP In Focus, (Nov. 02, 2011)
- "A Step Forward in Developing 21st Century Work Supports System" - CLASP In Focus, (Aug. 11, 2011)
- Webinar: The Affordable Care Act - Opening the Door to to 21st-Century Public Benefits? - Stan Dorn and the Coalition to Promote Access and Opportunity, (Nov. 10, 2010)
- Comments in Response to the HHS' Request for Comments on State-Level Health Information Exchanges - The Steering Committee of the Coalition to Promote Access and Opportunity, (Oct. 2010)
- "Health Care Reform May Expand Opportunities for Benefits Enrollment" - CLASP In Focus, (Sept. 28, 2010)
- Audio Conference: Game Change - Health Reform Allows Enrollment in Other Benefits to Leapfrog - Elizabeth Lower-Basch and the Coalition to Promote Access and Opportunity, (Sept. 22, 2010)
- Letter to Enrollment Workgroup Re: Using Health Care Reform as a Platform for Benefits Access - Elizabeth Lower-Basch and CLASP, (July 2010)
- Public Comments to Enrollment Workgroup Re: Including Multiple Benefits Access while Implementing Health Care Reform - Single Stop USA, (July 2010)
- "HHS Can Reach More Needy Families Through Health Care Reform Implementation" - CLASP In Focus, (July 08, 2010)
Background on Relevant Provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA):
- Summary of the Health Reform Law - Families USA
- Table of Enrollment Policy Provisions in the Health Reform Law - Families USA
- Health Benefit Exchanges: An Implementation Timeline for State Policymakers - Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- Explaining Health Reform: Eligibility And Enrollment Processes For Medicaid, CHIP and Subsidies in the Exchange - Kaiser Family Foundation
- Explaining Health Reform: Building Enrollment Systems That Meet The Expectations of the Affordable Care Act - Kaiser Family Foundation
- State Refor(u)m: Health Reform Implementation Strategy and Priorities Resources - National Academy for State Health Policy
- List of State Agencies Receiving Health Insurance Exchange Planning Grants
- Enroll America
- Your Essential Interoperability Toolkit with ACA - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration of Children and Families (Updated, October 2011)
- Bridging the Divide: Leveraging New Opportunities to Integrate Health and Human Services - American Public Human Services Association (October 2011)
- Letter from California Advocates Supporting Use of Health Care Exchange to Support Benefits Access. This letter may serve as a model for advocates in other states.
- Tri-Agency Letter on ACA Cost Allocation Flexibility - Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), (August 10, 2011), Additional Guidance (January 23, 2012)
- States Leading the Way on Implementation: HHS Awards "Early Innovator" Grants to Seven States - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, (February 16, 2011)
- Comments in response to a notice of proposed rule making (NPRM) on increased federal payment of Medicaid IT costs - Georgetown Center for Children and Families, the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities, Families USA, and the National Health Law Program (January 2011)
- Wisconsin Health Insurance Exchange Prototype (screens for eligibility of other benefits at the end) - State of Wisconsin (2011)
- U.S Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Agriculture letter to Human Service Heads on exchanges and Medicaid eligibility IT systems (November 2010)
- Simplification of Health and Social Services Enrollment and Eligibility: Lessons for California from Interviews in Four States - Mathematica, (November 4, 2010)
- State Actions to Implement the American Health Benefit Exchange - National Conference of State Legislatures, (Updated Nov. 18, 2010)
- Coordinating Coverage and Care in Medicaid and Health Insurance Exchanges - Kaiser Family Foundation, (October 2010)
- Initial Recommendations on Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Electronic Eligibility and Enrollment (Section 1561) - Health Information Technology Policy & Standards Committee Enrollment Workgroup, (August 2010)
- Optimizing Medicaid Enrollment: Spotlight on Technology - Kaiser Family Foundation, (August 2010)
- 50 Ways to Implement Health Reform: State Challenges and Federal Assistance - The Alliance for Health Reform, (Aug. 02, 2010)
Updated: 6/07/2012