Objective 1.2 For additional information or to join the work group contact: Douglas County Health Department Kenya Love 402-996-3144 Kenya.love@douglascounty-ne.gov Key Actions Status of Key Actions  Completed  In progress  Not Started Coordinate One World, Charles Drew, Resolute outreach and enrollment events Mapped uninsured and refugee population by zip code overlaid with current outreach efforts to identify any gaps. Target healthcare advocates (nonprofit, gov’t agency, school, faith community) for enrollment educational and referral opportunities (i.e. EEG webinar) Drafted a local outreach plan around media, events, and partnerships Pull Voter Activation Network contacts with high likely uninsured score in 5 selected zip codes to do live call or robocall outreach with follow-up Implement outreach in public schools and presentations at events. Bus ad targeting young adults that appeals to various races in Spanish with English Partner with the financial counselors at the local hospitals for events and outreach Engage 2-1-1 referral phone service of the United Way in referral and outreach for insurance enrollment (12,178 times people heard recorded message, 69 people referred to assister organization) Engage all participants in outreach for Enroll NE Education and Engagement Group Webinars to create referral organizationsLessons Learned Our goal of reducing the uninsured is still valid despite the means of achieving that goal (the ACA) being in question. We may have to switch our means depending on the actions of the President and Congress. Successes Quarter 1: Develop outreach and enrollment mechanism with areas schools. Implement strategies to target refugee populations through the Refugee Taskforce. Plan/promote Fall Harvest Outreach Event with South YMCA for all assisters. Determine level of collaboration for outreach events breakdown barriers. Quarter 4: Despite the Trump Administration’s efforts to dismantle the health law, enrollment held within 4% of last year’s total enrollees in Nebraska (84,371). Enrollment assisters and hospitals reported busy final weeks and lots of work to reassure individuals that their coverage would be available in 2017. Challenges The newly elected presidential administration and congress have created uncertainty about the Affordable Care Act and the future of health insurance including Medicaid and Medicare. There was a 1/20/17 executive order asking all agencies to ease the financial burden of the ACA as much as possible for consumers causing some to forego coverage thinking the financial penalty will not be in effect. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has also issued proposed rules to among other things shorten the 2018 enrollment period. The IRS has also rolled back a new regulation that would withhold a consumers tax return if their health insurance paperwork and tax forms were not filled out or were incorrect, further suggesting the penalty will not be enacted and creating uncertainty. This is all happening while congress moves forward a resolution to enact legislation that would roll back parts of the ACA through budget reconciliation. Competing replacement plans are circulating that offer less coverage and competing values. Already some insurers are pulling out of the Marketplace for the next enrollment period. A real example of how these actions have affected people in Nebraska happened during the last 2 weeks of open enrollment. NE went into that week with around 86,000 people having enrolled in coverage for the open enrollment period. By January 31, the last day for enrollment, the cumulative total of people who had enrolled was at 84,371. We had lost 2K people during a time when we had gained over 7K people the previous year. We believe that there are significant challenges out of our control that may affect this goal given the political climate. |