Wisconsin Obamacare helpers seek local money to offset federal funding decline

May 29--After Wisconsin's largest group helping people sign up for health insurance faced a 42 percent cut in federal funding last year, Dane County and the City of Madison contributed $107,000 to maintain local enrollment efforts. Now, Covering Wisconsin expects to get little or no federal money this year to help people find insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplace.

President Donald Trump's administration has said it will reduce funding for the assistance by nearly another 75 percent and no longer require that the money go to state-based groups.

Enrollment organizers in Wisconsin are asking health care systems to join cities and counties in making up the shortfall this year.

In some cases, the entities can bring in matching federal Medicaid money by doing so, as many people who are uninsured or seeking insurance on the individual market qualify for Medicaid, or BadgerCare.

"We are looking for public and private sector stakeholders to join together to make up for the withdrawal of federal support for this needed service," said Donna Friedsam, director of Covering Wisconsin.

Janel Heinrich, director of Public Health Madison and Dane County, said the health department is seeking a "larger community response" this year after the city and county agreed to use $107,000 from the department's budget last year.

Spokeswomen for SSM Health, UW Health, UnityPoint Health-Meriter and Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin said the organizations are considering whether to contribute.

The Affordable Care Act marketplace, which started in 2014 and is also known as Obamacare, is in its fifth year. Many enrollees still turn to workers known as navigators or assisters to help them choose health plan options, which frequently change and can have complicated financial and benefit structures.

"It's so complex for people to understand what is in their best interest, particularly because of the changes that are occurring constantly," Friedsam said.

When Covering Wisconsin's federal support decreased to $576,000 last year from nearly $1 million the year before, the Madison-based group dropped 11 counties from its 23-county service area, which continues to include the state's most populated counties, Milwaukee and Dane. Much of the $107,000 from Madison and Dane County last year was shared with local groups targeting black and Hispanic residents, whose insurance coverage rates lagged behind that of other populations. Covering Wisconsin brought in another $107,000 from Medicaid.

In Dane County, 17,037 people selected a marketplace plan for 2018, down only slightly from the 17,733 who did so for 2017, despite a shorter enrollment period last year, Friedsam said. Statewide, 225,435 people signed up for plans for this year, down from 242,863 who enrolled for 2017. Nationally, the figure is 11.8 million this year, down from 12.2 million last year.

A new federal rule in April, which gives states more flexibility in overseeing the Affordable Care Act, said states no longer need to have navigator groups. The Trump administration's proposed federal budget for navigators next year is $13.5 million, down from $51.2 million last year and $99.7 million the year before.

The administration has not specified its plans for assisting with enrollment, but Friedsam said it's possible a national call center will replace state-based navigator groups.

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