CMS expands program to connect #MedicaidUnwinding population to subsidized #ACA coverage

via Amy Lotven of Inside Health Policy:

CMS will beef up its outreach strategy and scale up a pilot program that connected navigators to specific consumers who are not eligible for Medicaid but could enroll in an Affordable Care Act plan through healthcare.gov to help ensure people who lose benefits during the ‘unwinding’ maintain their coverage, according to a slide-deck from a recent webinar.

As part of the effort, healthcare.gov will send those consumers additional reminder letters about enrolling in ACA coverage, with the first batch slated to go out in mid-May, and the assisters will contact those customers shortly afterward.

HHS has estimated that about 2.7 million of the 15 million or so Medicaid beneficiaries expected to lose coverage during the redetermination may be eligible for subsidized coverage through the marketplaces.

...People who lost Medicaid benefits and have yet to sign up for other coverage will receive a reminder letter that includes the name and contact of a specific assister organization that they’ve been matched with, and informs them that a navigator may reach out to them directly; people who could not be matched with an assister will get a letter directing them to the “find local help” page on healthcare.gov; and people in the three SBM-FP states will get a letter directing them to state-specific sites to find local help.

This is a very good thing, especially since I'm guessing most of those ~2.7 million people would otherwise have absolutely no idea that they're eligible for subsidized ACA exchange coverage...and a decent chunk of them are likely eligible for nearly $0-cost coverage.