Resource for Group Policy Papers - APHA Health Reform Update: Winter 2013

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Natalie Drorbaugh

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Feb 15, 2013, 11:43:31 PM2/15/13
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Hi everyone,
This seemed like a good source of information for the ACA that may be useful for some groups' final papers.
Best wishes,
Natalie

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Health Reform Update
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Greetings Natalie,

This edition of APHA’s Health Reform Update brings new public education resources, a roundup of recent federal guidance and state decision-making and more. Read on!  
Preparing for the health insurance marketplaces: New consumer education resources
As reported by APHA’s Public Health Newswire, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently revamped its official health reform websites (healthcare.gov and cuidadodesalud.gov), and released several new resources for educating the public about the health insurance marketplaces. Also known as exchanges, the marketplaces will open for enrollment in October and new plans and benefits will begin as early as January 2014. One great new resource is this brief video explaining the marketplaces. There is also a toolkit of public education brochures in English, Spanish and other languages, and this consumer education PowerPoint. For more information, both consumers and partners can sign up for email updates.
New regulations and recommendations
An important part of implementing the Affordable Care Act is the federal rulemaking process, in which executive agencies issue guidance and invite public comment on the details of how the law will work. In the months since the November elections, a number of new regulations have been issued by the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury. Topics have included essential health benefits, nondiscriminatory wellness programs, electronic health records and coverage of contraceptive services. For brief explanations of each rule, to see other rules recently released and to learn more about the rulemaking process, visit our ACA Implementation page.
New “streamlined applications for health insurance”
Also recently released for public review are drafts of new streamlined applications for health insurance, which are intended to be “single points of entry” to various coverage options. The applications are meant to allow people to purchase private insurance in the individual or small business marketplaces, and at the same time to assess their eligibility for assistance through Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program or the advanced payment of tax credits — subsidies to purchase coverage in the Marketplaces. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is inviting public comment on the individual, small business owner and small business employee applications.To demonstrate the user experience, CMS has posted two videos of the application being completed, one by an individual and one by a family of three.

State decisions on coverage expansions, marketplaces and essential benefits
While the federal government has been busy issuing regulations, resources and more over the past several months, the states have had some big decisions to make. 

Medicaid expansion: Last summer the Supreme Court upheld the Medicaid expansion but restricted the federal government from penalizing states that don’t expand their programs. The states that do opt in will receive generous federal funding to expand eligibility to nearly all residents with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, starting in January 2014. As of Feb. 9, 24 states will expand or are likely to, 20 won’t expand or are not likely to, and seven are still undecided, according to the National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities’ new monthly Medicaid Expansion Tracker. Other trackersare available from the Advisory Board Company and State Refor(u)m.

Insurance marketplace design: States have several options for setting up the new health insurance marketplaces, also known as “exchanges”: they can run their own state-based marketplace; opt for a state-federal partnership or largely opt out and request a federally-facilitated marketplace. States had until Dec. 14 to choose a state-based model; 17 states and the District of Columbia are doing this. In January, $1.5 billion in new grants went to 11 states working to establish their exchanges. Feb. 15 is the deadline for states to choose a partnership model; seven states have done so as of Feb. 8.  So far, 26 states will default to federally-facilitated marketplaces, but this number may change as states finalize their decisions and HHS reviews their plans. The Kaiser Family Foundation is tracking this information. 

Essential health benefit “benchmark” plans: Regardless of what type of marketplace a state chooses, each state has also had to choose one of several types of insurance plan to indicate to insurers the “benchmark” for required coverage of ten categories of essential health benefits. States had until Dec. 26 to choose their benchmark or default to the benchmark plan by the federal government. Kaiser Family Foundation has more information on EHB and the states’ decisions.

For even more information on these topics, visit APHA’s Medicaid expansion and insurance exchange pages, or see these frequently asked questions on exchanges, market reforms and Medicaid from HHS.
 
Ask/Answer/Share
What are your health reform questions? Email us at powero...@apha.org and we’ll answer one each month. Similarly, if you have health reform resources, research or opportunities to share, let us know. We can’t promise to include all questions or submissions in future e-newsletters, but we’ll do our best.

Q. Are there provisions in the Affordable Health Care Act for mental health?
 
A. The Affordable Care Act contains a number of provisions that impact coverage of, and access to, mental health care services. The National Alliance on Mental Illness offers fact sheets, webinars and other resources on health reform and mental health. Kaiser Health News also has a helpful Q&A on mental health insurance coverage under the ACA and other laws. Author Jenny Gold explains current protections under the Mental Health Parity Act of 2008, new ACA protections for people who will purchase coverage in the individual and small business marketplaces or be covered by Medicaid, the requirement that most plans offer adult beneficiaries depression screenings without cost-sharing and Prevention and Public Health Fund programs to support the mental health care workforce and increase access to services.
 
Winter 2013

In this edition
Stay informed! 
APHA provides relevant and timely resources to our members and the public health community. Visit newsletters to sign up for other updates on careers in public health, emergency preparedness and more.


 
Take our health reform resources survey!
We’d love to hear from you as we continue to expand and improve our health reform resources. 


   
Highlighted resources 

Report: The New Public Health: Rewiring for the Future — Insight and Inspiration from APHA’s 2012 Midyear Meeting (APHA,  February 2013)

Infographic: Health coverage under the Affordable Care Act (Kaiser Family Foundation and the Journal of the American Medical Association,  December 2012)

Webinar catch-up
Effects of the election on future implementation of the ACA (Network for Public Health Law, Jan. 17; featuring APHA’s Susan Polan)

Engineering an exchange: A look at state blueprints and decisions (State Refor(u)m, Dec. 13)

To expand or not to expand, that is the (Medicaid) question (National Conference of State Legislatures, Dec. 12)

Essential Health Benefits: What the proposed rule means for mental health (National Alliance on Mental Illness, Dec. 1)
Health reform headlines
From APHA: The Affordable Care Act: What’s next for US consumers (The Nation’s Health, February 2013)

From APHA: Community Transformation Grants are already making a difference (The Nation’s Health, January 2013; subscription required)

Tick, tock: Administration misses some health law deadlines (Kaiser Health News, Jan. 31)

Help from the Affordable Care Act to quit smoking and live longer (Healthcare.gov, Jan. 25)
 
 



 
 
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Mary Gustafson

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Feb 16, 2013, 10:29:57 AM2/16/13
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Thanks, Natalie!

Mary


From: Natalie Drorbaugh <ndror...@gmail.com>
To: uclame...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2013 8:43 PM
Subject: Resource for Group Policy Papers - APHA Health Reform Update: Winter 2013

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Sai A

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Feb 16, 2013, 1:27:55 PM2/16/13
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Thank you Natalie! :D 

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Best,


Sai-Han A Ackerman
UCLA School of Nursing l MSN/MECN Candidate 2013
External Vice President l Alpha Tau Delta, Gamma Chapter l UCLA School of Nursing
Ambassador Liaison l Graduate Student Nursing Association
Public Relations Co-Chair l Pediatrics Interest Club at UCLA
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