GEAR

THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING OUR 2ND ANNUAL ENROLLMENT SUMMIT!

Georgians for a Healthy Future would like to thank everyone who attended our 2nd annual enrollment summit, Getting Georgia Covered: How Consumer and Assister Experiences Can Increase Enrollment and Inform Policy. We had individual breakout sessions for both assisters and advocates and each group discussed best practices for informing policy. The enrollment breakout enjoyed a lively conversation and we appreciated everyone’s feedback on the collaborating roles of assisters and advocates. At the event, GHF released our new policy report, Getting Georgia Covered: What We Can Learn from Consumer and Assister Experiences During the Third Open Enrollment. This report identifies key themes in consumer and assister experiences during the 2016 open enrollment period; describes best practices for outreach, enrollment, and reaching eligible Georgians who remain uninsured; and identifies policy opportunities to increase enrollment, improve access to care, and address affordability issues.

KUDOS TO THE TEAMWORK ON SECTION 1557 ACRONYMS: NOC-DARS AND SILVER

Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in all health programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), are administered through HHS, or are established under Title 1 of the Affordable Care Act. Kudos to veteran navigator Vincent Spann with GAPHC who introduced these acronyms at the enrollment assister and direct service provider breakout session during this month’s enrollment summit. These acronyms can help assisters understand and identify the discrimination types and report the incident correctly.

NOC-DARS: Discrimination Types 

NO – National Origin
C – Color
D – Disability
A – Age
R – Race
S – Sex

SILVER: Reporting Discrimination

S – State where the event took place
I – Institution involved
L – List details
V – Violation Type
E – Evidence
R – Representative involved

If you know someone who has experienced discrimination, please let us know. GHF has partnered with Georgia Equality and the Health Initiative to help Georgians who have faced discrimination and prevent it from happening again. Click here for more details.

RESOURCE HIGHLIGHT

Healthcare Value 101: An Introduction or Refresher on Healthcare Cost and Quality Issues
Healthcare Value Hub; September 16, 2016
This webinar from Consumers Union will explore the major drivers of healthcare, how healthcare costs can be minimized, and value increased. This will be a good resource for enrollment assisters to learn more about healthcare value and how it affects consumers. Assisters may also be able to identify healthcare cost related issues and potential ways to work with advocates for addressing consumer concerns and inform policy.

Get Insured. Stay Insured Videos
Georgians for a Healthy Future 
GHF recently released this five-part video which walks through questions consumers may have when enrolling in health insurance such as why is health insurance necessary and what plan is the best. It also goes through post-enrollment questions such as how to use health insurance and how to find a doctor. This is a great tool for enrollment assisters to use for outreach.

MEET THE GEAR TEAM

Pranay Rana is a certified enrollment assister and is GHF’s Consumer Education and Enrollment Specialist. Whitney Griggs is our Outreach & Engagement Manager. Together they manage the GEAR Network. Have a question you’d love to see GEAR address? Let them know!

REMINDER – PLEASE JOIN US FOR GETTING GEORGIA COVERED: HOW CONSUMER AND ASSISTER EXPERIENCES CAN INCREASE ENROLLMENT AND INFORM POLICY

August 16, 2016, 8:30 AM – 2:00 PM
Sloppy Floyd Building
20th floor, Floyd Room 200 Piedmont Ave.
Atlanta, GA 30334 

This will be our second annual enrollment summit and this year we are focusing on strengthening relationships between the health policy community and the enrollment assistance community. Confirmed speakers include:

• Dr. Pamela Roshell, Region IV Director, US Department of Health and Human Services
• Dr. Bill Custer, Director of the Center for Health Services Research and Associate Professor, J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University
• Health Bates, Deputy Director, Enrollment Assister Network, Families USA
• Sandy Anh, Associate Research Professor, Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms
• Whitney Griggs, Outreach & Engagement Manager, Georgians for a Healthy Future

Enrollment assisters will be able to hear from national partners, discuss ideas on how to reach the remaining uninsured, and other topics related to open enrollment. New for this year, there will also be a session just for advocates to discuss how enrollment trends and consumer experiences with enrollment can inform health policy in Georgia. Lunch will be provided for this free event. RSVP here.

UPDATES FOR JULY

Georgia Navigator License Renewals 

Just a quick reminder that Georgia navigator licenses expire at the end of August 2016. Make sure you check with your program manager for organization specific requirements. Renewals can be done using this form. For more information visit www.oci.ga.gov/navigators. This is different from the federal licensing requirement, which you can learn more about here. If you have specific questions about renewal requirements please reach out to Pranay.

Advancing Health Equity for LGBT Georgians

Georgians for a Healthy Future is working with Georgia Equality and The Health Initiative to help Georgians who have faced discrimination in health care report it so we can help stop it from happening again.

If you encounter someone who believes they have been discriminated against, send them to this link to file a complaint online with the Office for Civil Rights. Please also tell us about your experience so we can help them navigate the complaint process and identify systemic issues that should be addressed through public policy advocacy.

Calculating Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) – A Refresher

We all know how hard estimating, entering, and verifying income can be. Perhaps one of the most difficult tasks is understanding exactly what counts as income. Fortunately, the team at In the Loop has created a number of resources to help you understand how to calculate MAGI. This includes their newest resource, MAGI 101, a great refresher for both new and old assisters. They also have a MAGI expert on staff to help you with your really complex issues!

Families USA Enrollment Assister Resource Center

While we’re on the topic of reminders, it’s a great time to go back to the Families USA’s Enrollment Assister Resource Center. There you’ll find tips, tools, resources, and webinars that will make your job easier. As you’re preparing for the next open enrollment period, check out their resources and see if there’s anything that you can use!

MARKETPLACE RESOURCE HIGHLIGHT:

Complex Cases: Assisting victims of Domestic Violence: CMS
This resource describes the eligibility criteria for victims of domestic violence to enroll into the Marketplace during a special enrollment period (SEP). This SEP can be requested by calling the Marketplace at 1-800-318-2596 and is not accessible via healthcare.gov.

Immigrant Eligibility for Health Coverage: In the Loop
This is a detailed resource which takes a deep dive into ACA questions for immigrants including eligibility, APTC, mixed status families, undocumented immigrants and more.

Ambetter Contact Information
Do you have a consumer enrolled in Ambetter that has a complex issue? You can reach out to Jeremy Gillespie at 1-312-619-3033 or email him at jegillespie@centene.com to get assistance.

MEET THE GEAR TEAM

Pranay Rana is a certified enrollment assister and is GHF’s Consumer Education and Enrollment Specialist. Whitney Griggs is our Outreach & Engagement Manager. Together they manage the GEAR Network. Have a question you’d love to see GEAR address? Let them know!