Trump Administration Undermining Community Efforts to Help Marketplace Consumers
The
That's a flawed metric. It doesn't account for the many other duties that navigators perform under the Affordable Care Act, such as raising awareness about health plan options and subsidies and referring consumers to appropriate assistance if they have a coverage-related grievance.
Moreover, the actual cuts don't seem to be based on performance, as CMS claims. Some navigator groups report receiving far larger cuts than they should have under this method. Funding for one
Moreover, CMS is administering the cuts in a way that harms all navigator programs, not just those facing funding cuts:
* Its
* CMS then took more than two weeks to give groups new maximum funding amounts and required groups to submit updated proposals by
* CMS told groups it would take up to 30 days to review and approve their revised proposals and budgets, and funding wouldn't be guaranteed until final approval.
Under this timeline, navigator groups will likely receive final approval of their funding just days before open enrollment's
In addition to cutting financial support for navigators, CMS has taken other actions that will pose additional challenges for navigators and other groups promoting marketplace enrollment this year:
* CMS cut the outreach budget by 90 percent over last year.
* CMS ended contracts with two private firms to provide in-person assistance in states using HealthCare.gov for marketplace enrollment. Since the first open enrollment period in 2013,
* CMS will shut down HealthCare.gov for system maintenance every Sunday morning during open enrollment except one. Sunday mornings are popular times for assistance groups to help people enroll at community events, including at faith-based gatherings.
*
* HHS, though legally responsible for implementing the ACA, continues to describe the law as a failure that has harmed consumers, which could discourage some consumers from seeking marketplace coverage.
Navigators, community health centers, advocates, outreach groups, and others are preparing for what promises to be a challenging open enrollment period. A new non-profit organization, Get America Covered, launched today to raise awareness about the availability of marketplace coverage. But experts fear that many eligible uninsured people will miss out on the opportunity to sign up for coverage due to the Administration's retreat from activities to promote enrollment.
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