The Affordable Care Act requires each Health Insurance Exchange to establish a Navigator program that will help people who are eligible to purchase coverage through the Exchange learn about their new coverage and enrollment options, including Medicaid, tax credits, and private insurance. In Illinois, the Navigator program will be paired with an In Person Assistor Program to help the 1.7 million uninsured residents in Illinois find coverage. The success of the ACA hinges on the ability of Navigators and In Person Assistors to reach eligible residents and provide culturally competent services.
Two pieces of legislation currently being heard in the Illinois General Assembly - SB1194 & HB2608 – create barriers to this massive enrollment effort. The two pieces of legislation establish overly restrictive criteria for organizations and agencies that wish to serve as Navigators, making it more difficult for vulnerable populations to be connected with their new options for affordable health insurance coverage. For example, the bills require that Navigators be licensed by the state despite the fact that the Federal regulations specifically do not require licensing.
Additionally, SB1194/HB2608 are written to address a Navigator program operated by a state-based Health Insurance Marketplace. However, in 2014, Illinois will run its exchange in partnership with the federal government. Therefore, this legislation is unnecessary because HHS, not the Illinois Department of Insurance, retains ultimate authority over the Navigator grant process, including selecting Navigator grantees and awarding Navigator grants, and the approval of grantee activities and budgets.
Over a million Illinois residents will be eligible for new health insurance starting October 2013. For a successful marketplace, rather than putting into place restrictions that would deter and prevent community-based organizations from serving as Navigators, we should work to ensure that broad efforts are in place to connect these individuals with coverage. For that reason, we ask that you OPPOSE SB 1194 & HB 2608. See here for a fact sheet on the bills.
SB 1194 will likely be called for a vote in the Senate Insurance Committee on Wednesday, March 20th @ 5 pm. Don’t restrict the Navigators; please slip in opposition to SB 1194 and HB2608.
Kathy Chan, Illinois Maternal and Child Health Coalition
Nadeen Israel, Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights
Ramon Gardenhire, AIDS Foundation of Chicago
Stephanie Altman, Health & Disability Advocates
Monday, 18 March 2013
Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Finding the Pot of Gold at the End of the Navigator Rainbow!
News that a new proposed rule on Navigators is under review at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) hopefully means it won’t be long before we see model navigator training, conflict of interest and privacy standards. With any luck, release of the proposed standards should pave the way for the federal navigator grant solicitation.
The navigator funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will seek proposals from qualified organizations in the 33 states where the federal government will operate the exchange, including states that have opted for State Partnership Exchanges. Navigator grants in the 17 states (and D.C.) that are building their own state-based exchanges will not be included in this solicitation. The level of funding has not been disclosed but CMS officials have said the total amount will be allocated to states based on a formula that establishes a state minimum and factors in the number of uninsured people in the state. So there will be a larger pot of money for navigator grants in states with higher uninsured rates.
Any organization considering applying for a navigator grant should complete the registration process as soon as possible. Given the dwindling timeline, it’s not clear how long applicants will have to prepare their proposals but potential applicants – particularly those who have never applied for a federal grant – can register now. This doesn’t obligate you to apply but it gets the basics out of the way so you can concentrate on the substance of your response to the grant solicitation once it is announced. While applying for a federal grant might seem as daunting as finding a four-leaf clover, www.grants.gov provides step-by-step registration instructions in this checklist. There are five steps for registration and while most of the steps can be completed online the same day, Step 2 – registering with the System for Award Management (SAM) – can take up to two weeks.
A word of encouragement to small community-based organizations. Keep in mind that federal regulations require there to be at least two types of entities selected as navigators in any given state and one of those types must be a community or consumer-focused nonprofit organization. Capitalizing on the experience and passion in organizations that assist people with Medicaid and CHIP coverage is the best way to build a network of navigators to reach key populations of vulnerable and uninsured people and connect them to coverage. CMS officials have emphasized that all proposals – small and large – will be considered, so securing a grant could be a lot easier than catching a leprechaun!
If you want to learn more about navigators check out these two briefs:
“Countdown to 2014: Designing Navigator Programs to Meet the Needs of Consumers”
“Designing Navigator Programs to Meet the Needs of Consumers: Duties and Competencies”
For those of you who decide to apply for navigator funding, may the luck of the Irish be with you! Remember, registering now will put you five steps closer to the end of the rainbow.
Tricia Brooks
Senior Fellow
Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, Center for Children & Families
This blog was originally posted on Say Ahhh! a health care policy blog
The navigator funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will seek proposals from qualified organizations in the 33 states where the federal government will operate the exchange, including states that have opted for State Partnership Exchanges. Navigator grants in the 17 states (and D.C.) that are building their own state-based exchanges will not be included in this solicitation. The level of funding has not been disclosed but CMS officials have said the total amount will be allocated to states based on a formula that establishes a state minimum and factors in the number of uninsured people in the state. So there will be a larger pot of money for navigator grants in states with higher uninsured rates.
Any organization considering applying for a navigator grant should complete the registration process as soon as possible. Given the dwindling timeline, it’s not clear how long applicants will have to prepare their proposals but potential applicants – particularly those who have never applied for a federal grant – can register now. This doesn’t obligate you to apply but it gets the basics out of the way so you can concentrate on the substance of your response to the grant solicitation once it is announced. While applying for a federal grant might seem as daunting as finding a four-leaf clover, www.grants.gov provides step-by-step registration instructions in this checklist. There are five steps for registration and while most of the steps can be completed online the same day, Step 2 – registering with the System for Award Management (SAM) – can take up to two weeks.
A word of encouragement to small community-based organizations. Keep in mind that federal regulations require there to be at least two types of entities selected as navigators in any given state and one of those types must be a community or consumer-focused nonprofit organization. Capitalizing on the experience and passion in organizations that assist people with Medicaid and CHIP coverage is the best way to build a network of navigators to reach key populations of vulnerable and uninsured people and connect them to coverage. CMS officials have emphasized that all proposals – small and large – will be considered, so securing a grant could be a lot easier than catching a leprechaun!
If you want to learn more about navigators check out these two briefs:
“Countdown to 2014: Designing Navigator Programs to Meet the Needs of Consumers”
“Designing Navigator Programs to Meet the Needs of Consumers: Duties and Competencies”
For those of you who decide to apply for navigator funding, may the luck of the Irish be with you! Remember, registering now will put you five steps closer to the end of the rainbow.
Tricia Brooks
Senior Fellow
Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, Center for Children & Families
This blog was originally posted on Say Ahhh! a health care policy blog
Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Illinois Should Accept Federal Funds to Fill the Gap in Medicaid
We strongly encourage the General Assembly to accept new federal Medicaid funding that will be made available to Illinois in 2014 to fill a historic gap in the Medicaid program and provide health care coverage for hundreds of thousands of the lowest income uninsured Illinois residents. The measure will strengthen the financial health of our hospitals and other health care providers and boost our local economies as federal funds create jobs.
Medicaid has never covered all low-income individuals. It has always had a gap. Even if you are very poor, you do not qualify for Medicaid unless you are also elderly, disabled, pregnant, parenting or a minor child. Eliminating this gap in Medicaid opens the door for coverage to people with income under $16,000 who are ages 18-65, not officially disabled and not raising a minor child. For example, vital health coverage would be available to young adults just coming out of high school or college and starting their working lives; other young adults experiencing underemployment after a tour in the military (Illinois has 43,000 uninsured veterans); older adults whose children have passed age 18 who are not high earners; and people troubled with mental health and other issues that block their efforts at employment.
The State of Illinois, its localities, and all of the rest of us have been filling this Medicaid gap. We do it through charity care programs, safety net healthcare arrangements funded by property taxes, and state-funded human services programs that could be covered by Medicaid if the individual were eligible. The average U.S. family and their employers pay an extra $1,000 in health insurance premiums each year to compensate for health care for the uninsured. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that total uncompensated care in Illinois will decline by approximately $953 million from 2013 - 2022. Townships and General Assistance providers will be relieved from paying for coverage of those who are uninsured and are currently ineligible for Medicaid.
The brunt of the Medicaid gap also falls on those not covered – poor health, premature death, lowered employability and productivity, lost opportunity, medical bankruptcy and more. SB 26 will allow the State of Illinois to use federal funds to close the Medicaid coverage gap, address these health inequities, and begin to address the problem of rising health care costs due to uncompensated care for the uninsured.
The Federal government will provide 100 percent of the cost of filling the Medicaid gap for the first three years ($4.6 billion for the Illinois economy), and 90 percent of the cost after that ($21 billion over the first ten years). This means nearly 20,000 new jobs, which means paychecks being spent in stores and restaurants. The tax revenue resulting from this federal investment in our state’s health care system will more than cover the state’s small financial contribution.
In announcing that she would accept the federal money to fill the Medicaid gap in her state, Arizona’s Governor Jan Brewer simply said, “I did the math”. Seven Republican governors, all at one time vocal opponents of the measure, have now joined this pragmatic and sensible chorus. It is just too obviously in the best interests of their people and their states to reject.
Health care coverage keeps people healthier and reduces overall health system costs. That’s why we, the undersigned organizations – a diverse constituency of consumers, providers, hospitals, local governments, businesses and insurance companies throughout the state – support SB 26 and urge the Illinois General Assembly to pass this bill.
Signed,
AARP Illinois
Aetna, Inc.
AIDS Foundation of Chicago
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights
Illinois Hospital Association Illinois Maternal and Child Health Coalition
Illinois Primary Health Care Association
Meridian Health Plan of Illinois
Sargent Shriver National Poverty Law Center
SEIU Healthcare Illinois Indiana
Tuesday, 26 February 2013
Dual Eligibles Next to Move into Managed Care in Illinois
On February 22, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the state of Illinois for a demonstration project that will enroll approximately 136,000 dual eligibles in northeastern and central Illinois into managed care plans. (“Dual eligibles” are individuals who have coverage through both Medicare and Medicaid.) Illinois is the fourth state to receive an MOU for this demonstration, known nationally as the Medicare Medicaid Financial Alignment Initiative (MMAI).
AgeOptions and other organizations that serve older adults have been following the development of this new project, as it will significantly affect the lives of our clients. Here is what we have learned about this new initiative from our research and communications with the entities involved, including the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services and various managed care organizations:
The MMAI project is part of a national effort to better coordinate care for dual eligible beneficiaries. Dual eligibles tend to be sicker and cost more than other Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. To address this, as part of the Affordable Care Act, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services created a Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office (MMCO) to “make sure Medicare-Medicaid enrollees have full access to seamless, high quality health care and to make the system as cost-effective as possible.” One of the MMCO’s first projects has been working with states to implement initiatives to coordinate care for dual eligibles.
Currently, dual eligibles must navigate and manage multiple systems of coverage in order to access the health care they need (Medicare, Medicare Part D prescription drug plans, and Medicaid). This can be very complex and taxing for individuals who have multiple complex health needs. Therefore, the goals of the MMAI project are to simplify this process and provide higher quality and more coordinated care for dual eligibles.
In January 2014, dual eligibles in the greater Chicago area and parts of Central Illinois will be enrolled into managed care plans. These plans must provide care managers and other supports to coordinate their members’ care, in addition to paying for members’ medical services and long term services and supports (LTSS). In exchange, these plans will be paid a capitated rate by the state of Illinois and CMS. (“Capitated rate” means the plans will receive a flat rate for each member that they serve, instead of being paid for each individual service that a member receives.) The inclusion of long term services and supports in this project is significant, as these services may be ‘new territory’ to some managed care organizations. In addition to providing coverage for LTSS provided in long term care facilities, MMAI plans will be responsible for covering home and community based services, such as the Community Care Program. This may cause confusion for dual eligible beneficiaries who are used to receiving Community Care Program services through the existing system, so agencies working with older adults will have to provide education and assistance to help our clients understand these new changes.
Illinois has selected eight managed care plans to provide MMAI coverage. Those eight plans are:
Counties that will be part of the MMAI project:
For more information about the Illinois MMAI project, please see the following resources:
CMS fact sheet
Illinois Memorandum of Understanding
Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services webpage on Illinois Care Coordination Initiatives (see section on MMAI)
AgeOptions and other organizations that serve older adults have been following the development of this new project, as it will significantly affect the lives of our clients. Here is what we have learned about this new initiative from our research and communications with the entities involved, including the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services and various managed care organizations:
The MMAI project is part of a national effort to better coordinate care for dual eligible beneficiaries. Dual eligibles tend to be sicker and cost more than other Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. To address this, as part of the Affordable Care Act, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services created a Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office (MMCO) to “make sure Medicare-Medicaid enrollees have full access to seamless, high quality health care and to make the system as cost-effective as possible.” One of the MMCO’s first projects has been working with states to implement initiatives to coordinate care for dual eligibles.
Currently, dual eligibles must navigate and manage multiple systems of coverage in order to access the health care they need (Medicare, Medicare Part D prescription drug plans, and Medicaid). This can be very complex and taxing for individuals who have multiple complex health needs. Therefore, the goals of the MMAI project are to simplify this process and provide higher quality and more coordinated care for dual eligibles.
In January 2014, dual eligibles in the greater Chicago area and parts of Central Illinois will be enrolled into managed care plans. These plans must provide care managers and other supports to coordinate their members’ care, in addition to paying for members’ medical services and long term services and supports (LTSS). In exchange, these plans will be paid a capitated rate by the state of Illinois and CMS. (“Capitated rate” means the plans will receive a flat rate for each member that they serve, instead of being paid for each individual service that a member receives.) The inclusion of long term services and supports in this project is significant, as these services may be ‘new territory’ to some managed care organizations. In addition to providing coverage for LTSS provided in long term care facilities, MMAI plans will be responsible for covering home and community based services, such as the Community Care Program. This may cause confusion for dual eligible beneficiaries who are used to receiving Community Care Program services through the existing system, so agencies working with older adults will have to provide education and assistance to help our clients understand these new changes.
Illinois has selected eight managed care plans to provide MMAI coverage. Those eight plans are:
- Chicago area: Aetna Better Health, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois, HealthSpring, Humana, IlliniCare (Centene), and Meridian Health Plan of Illinois
- Central Illinois: Molina Healthcare, Health Alliance
Counties that will be part of the MMAI project:
- Greater Chicago area: Cook, DuPage, Lake, Kane, Kankakee, and Will counties
- Central Illinois: Christian, Champaign, DeWitt, Ford, Knox, Logan, Macon, McLean, Menard, Peoria, Piatt, Sangamon, Stark, Tazewell, and Vermilion counties
For more information about the Illinois MMAI project, please see the following resources:
CMS fact sheet
Illinois Memorandum of Understanding
Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services webpage on Illinois Care Coordination Initiatives (see section on MMAI)
Monday, 25 February 2013
For Better Healthcare Join The Small Business Healthcare Consoritum
Our changing health care system will have a profound effect on all of us. Now that the election is over and the Supreme Court has ruled, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is not going away. It will not be repealed and it is up to us to make sure it will work for small businesses and individuals as it was intended to do.
That’s why I joined the Campaign for Better Health Care’s newly created Small Business Health Care Consortium (SBHCC). This consortium views the needs of small businesses and their employees as a top priority.
And, as a member of the Steering Committee of the SBHCC I am personally inviting you to join our network of small businesses who know that only through our collective voices that will assure that the Affordale Care Act live up to its goal of making healthcare affordable for all.
Discussions around health reform have been confusing and, sometimes, even misleading. It is the goal of the SBHCC to provide factual information about the changes that are already happening and those coming in the near future. The SBHCC discusses the benefits and opportunities of the ACA and what Illinois small businesses need to do to make sure this law will benefit them.
Many key components of the ACA are national in nature. For instance, small businesses currently providing health insurance to their employees could be eligible for a 35% tax credit. And, while employers with fewer than 50 full time employees are not required to provide health insurance, their employees can take advantage of the ACA’s benefits.
Other components will be implemented at the State level and these decisions will either enhance small businesses or provide another hurdle. One important component is that all states must implement a health insurance exchange (marketplace). These exchanges will include a rate review process with defined, easy to understand plans to consider and review side-by-side.
As small business owners we share many of the same, serious business challenges. It is my hope that you and your small business peers do want to learn more about the ACA. Let’s take this opportunity to act collectively to get control of health insurance costs and improve access to coverage. The opportunity to create positive change is now. It is about fairness and choices for small businesses. To that end I like for you to hear my own personal story about how the new healthcare law will effect me.
Howard Lee
CIO
Wirehead Technology
That’s why I joined the Campaign for Better Health Care’s newly created Small Business Health Care Consortium (SBHCC). This consortium views the needs of small businesses and their employees as a top priority.
And, as a member of the Steering Committee of the SBHCC I am personally inviting you to join our network of small businesses who know that only through our collective voices that will assure that the Affordale Care Act live up to its goal of making healthcare affordable for all.
Discussions around health reform have been confusing and, sometimes, even misleading. It is the goal of the SBHCC to provide factual information about the changes that are already happening and those coming in the near future. The SBHCC discusses the benefits and opportunities of the ACA and what Illinois small businesses need to do to make sure this law will benefit them.
Many key components of the ACA are national in nature. For instance, small businesses currently providing health insurance to their employees could be eligible for a 35% tax credit. And, while employers with fewer than 50 full time employees are not required to provide health insurance, their employees can take advantage of the ACA’s benefits.
Other components will be implemented at the State level and these decisions will either enhance small businesses or provide another hurdle. One important component is that all states must implement a health insurance exchange (marketplace). These exchanges will include a rate review process with defined, easy to understand plans to consider and review side-by-side.
As small business owners we share many of the same, serious business challenges. It is my hope that you and your small business peers do want to learn more about the ACA. Let’s take this opportunity to act collectively to get control of health insurance costs and improve access to coverage. The opportunity to create positive change is now. It is about fairness and choices for small businesses. To that end I like for you to hear my own personal story about how the new healthcare law will effect me.
Howard Lee
CIO
Wirehead Technology
The Negative Impact of SMART Act Cuts
This post originally appeared as a letter from Age Options to the IL House of Representatives human Services Appropriations Committee, submitted on Feb. 20, 2013
The cuts to Medicaid that were implemented July 1, 2012 as a result of the SMART Act have had a serious negative impact on the lives of our clients. In particular, we would like to bring to your attention the hardship caused by the elimination of the Illinois Cares Rx program. Illinois Cares Rx provided critical pharmaceutical assistance to more than 160,000 older adults and people with disabilities in Illinois. Without this program, many of these individuals are struggling to pay for their medications.
Contrary to popular belief, implementation of the Affordable Care Act has not resolved the need for a state pharmaceutical assistance program. The ACA does not close the Medicare Part D “donut hole” until 2020. Further, Illinois Cares Rx provided much needed assistance with expensive Medicare Part D deductibles and copayments – the ACA does not do anything to address this.
To illustrate the difficulties that older adults are facing without this critical program, we would like to share with you the story of one of our clients. Lillian is an 89 year old resident of Berwyn, Illinois. A widow for 53 years, Lillian worked multiple jobs to support her two children and pay off her mortgage. She had no money left over to save for retirement. Now, Lillian’s income of $1,648/month puts her above the income limits for assistance programs like Medicaid and the Part D Extra Help program, but is barely enough for Lillian to make ends meet with her expenses. She pays premiums each month for her Medicare and Part D prescription coverage. She also pays for an expensive Medicare Supplement Plan to cover her injections for macular degeneration, which cost $4,000 every two weeks, and bills for dental services out of pocket (Medicare does not provide dental coverage). In addition to all of her health care expenses, Lillian must continue to pay her utility bills, property taxes, and homeowner’s insurance. At the end of each month, Lillian has no extra money left in her bank account. In fact, lately she has had to put some of her bills onto a credit card, and then she skimps on groceries the following month to pay off the credit card bill.
Since Illinois Cares Rx was eliminated, Lillian has been unable to afford the costs of her medications. She takes nine prescription drugs every month, including two drugs that cost $70/month each in Part D copayments. Lillian has not been able to afford her three most expensive medications since January, so she has been going without them. These drugs help control Lillian’s blood pressure, cholesterol, and hypothyroidism; going without these medications is dangerous for her health and has the potential to instigate expensive emergency room or hospital care. Unfortunately, without Illinois Cares Rx, Lillian has no other option to pay for her medications, so these are risks that she has been forced to take.
As a result of the SMART Act, thousands of older adults and people with disabilities in Illinois are in situations just like Lillian’s. They must make difficult choices every month regarding whether to pay for food, utility bills, or medications. The elimination of Illinois Cares Rx has created a tremendous financial burden for these individuals, and it is likely to create a significant financial burden for the state via costly emergency room and hospital care for individuals who cannot afford their prescription drugs.
We ask that the committee consider these burdens in future action regarding cuts to Medicaid, as well as in considering restoration of pharmaceutical assistance for older adults and people with disabilities. AgeOptions and the Illinois Association of Area Agencies on Aging fully support HB1286 (sponsored by Representative Jakobsson and cosponsored by Representatives Beiser and Burke), which would reinstate a pharmaceutical assistance program of this nature.
Friday, 22 February 2013
IPXP To Stop Accepting Applications March 2nd
The federal office charged with implementing health care reform announced last Friday that the subsidized plans that are currently insuring more than 100,000 individuals nationwide, will be closing their doors to new enrollees months before other coverage is available on the new insurance exchanges.
Although most of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act do not become effective until January 1, 2014, the law set up interim plans, called “Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plans” for people who could not buy health insurance on the private market because of serious health conditions, including HIV. In Illinois, the state opened the Illinois Pre-Existing Insurance Plan (IPXP) in August 2010. Approximately 3000 people now have insurance though IPXP. Although those people currently enrolled in those plans will continue to have coverage until January 1, 2014, when they will be able to move to private insurance coverage, Friday’s announcement means that no new applications will be accepted after March 2, 2013.
Ann Fisher, Executive Director of the AIDS Legal Council of Chicago, explained why this is bad news for people with HIV or any other pre-existing condition that blocks them from getting private insurance. “IPXP has been an important source of health care coverage for people with HIV, including people on the AIDS Drug Assistance Program whose income climbs above 300% of the federal poverty level (about $35,000) but do not have health insurance on the job and cannot afford to pay for their medications themselves. “
The state has been able to refer those individuals to IPXP, and to help pay the IPXP premiums, so that they do not lose access to their medications. Fisher explained that IPXP was always meant to be a temporary program, set to expire once pre-existing conditions no longer prevent people from buying insurance. “But,” she added “we always assumed, perhaps naively, that IPXP would continue to accept new enrollees until very close to January 1st.” “It appears,” she added,” that IPXP is a victim of its own success. There was a limited pool of money available for the plans, and in order to make sure they can continue to pay claims of current enrollees, they now have to cut off future ones.”
The AIDS Legal Council is trying to get out the word about the closing of enrollment, and encouraging anyone who has been without insurance for at least six months to quickly apply for IPXP. ALCC is available to answer questions or assist with the enrollment process. They can be reached at 312-427-8990.
Ann Fisher
AIDS Legal Council of Chicago
ann@aidslegal.com
Although most of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act do not become effective until January 1, 2014, the law set up interim plans, called “Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plans” for people who could not buy health insurance on the private market because of serious health conditions, including HIV. In Illinois, the state opened the Illinois Pre-Existing Insurance Plan (IPXP) in August 2010. Approximately 3000 people now have insurance though IPXP. Although those people currently enrolled in those plans will continue to have coverage until January 1, 2014, when they will be able to move to private insurance coverage, Friday’s announcement means that no new applications will be accepted after March 2, 2013.
Ann Fisher, Executive Director of the AIDS Legal Council of Chicago, explained why this is bad news for people with HIV or any other pre-existing condition that blocks them from getting private insurance. “IPXP has been an important source of health care coverage for people with HIV, including people on the AIDS Drug Assistance Program whose income climbs above 300% of the federal poverty level (about $35,000) but do not have health insurance on the job and cannot afford to pay for their medications themselves. “
The state has been able to refer those individuals to IPXP, and to help pay the IPXP premiums, so that they do not lose access to their medications. Fisher explained that IPXP was always meant to be a temporary program, set to expire once pre-existing conditions no longer prevent people from buying insurance. “But,” she added “we always assumed, perhaps naively, that IPXP would continue to accept new enrollees until very close to January 1st.” “It appears,” she added,” that IPXP is a victim of its own success. There was a limited pool of money available for the plans, and in order to make sure they can continue to pay claims of current enrollees, they now have to cut off future ones.”
The AIDS Legal Council is trying to get out the word about the closing of enrollment, and encouraging anyone who has been without insurance for at least six months to quickly apply for IPXP. ALCC is available to answer questions or assist with the enrollment process. They can be reached at 312-427-8990.
Ann Fisher
AIDS Legal Council of Chicago
ann@aidslegal.com
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