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Survey of Health Insurance Marketplace Assister Programs: a first look at consumer assistance under the Affordable Care Act
Survey of Health Insurance Marketplace Assister Programs: a first look at consumer assistance under the Affordable Care Act
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Author(s):
- Pollitz, Karen, author
Tolbert, Jennifer, author
Ma, Rosa, author - Contributor(s):
- Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, issuing body.
- Publication:
- Menlo Park, CA : Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, July 2014
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Community-Institutional Relations
Consumer Advocacy
Health Insurance Exchanges
Patient Navigation -- statistics & numerical data
United States
United States. - Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- The Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides for a substantial new infrastructure of consumer assistance in health insurance. All state Marketplaces are required to have Navigators and other similar Assister Programs to help consumers understand their coverage options, apply for assistance, and enroll. In addition, comprehensive State Ombudsman or Consumer Assistance Programs (CAPs) are established under the ACA to provide a full range of help--outreach and enrollment assistance as well as help with post-enrollment problems such as appealing denied claims--to all state residents in all types of group and non-group health plan coverage. Throughout the first Open Enrollment period, public attention focused on the number of people who would enroll in qualified health plans (QHPs) offered through the Marketplace and in Medicaid. People will continue to enroll in coverage throughout the year, and even more people are projected to enroll next year, but the close of Open Enrollment affords an opportunity to examine the role of Assister Programs in helping people to enroll and remain enrolled in coverage. This report is based on findings from the 2014 Kaiser Family Foundation survey of Health Insurance Marketplace Assister Programs. This internet survey was conducted from April 24 to May 12, 2014, shortly after the first Open Enrollment period concluded. Federal and state-operated Marketplaces provided email contact information for directors of their Assister Programs, all of whom were invited to participate. This report examines the experience of Assister Programs across the states in conducting outreach and enrollment assistance during the first Open Enrollment period for health insurance Marketplaces established by the ACA. Based on responses to this survey extrapolated to the total number of Assister Programs, this report offers the first nationwide assessment of the number and type of Assister Programs and the number of people they helped. This report also examines the nature of help consumers needed, both pre- and post-enrollment, and the extent to which Assister Programs could meet consumer needs. In addition, it discusses key factors that impacted the effectiveness of Assister Programs at the outset and the outlook for consumer assistance in the future.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (34 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101639192 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101639192