Health News
Yesterday, Governor Quinn announced that Illinois was awarded a $115 Million grant for its Health Insurance Marketplace (the online portal to enroll over a million adults and children into quality health plans). A large portion of this federal funding will pay for outreach activities and consumer assistance during the push to enroll the uninsured beginning on October 1 of this year.
This is great news for the people of Illinois.
With October 1 less than six months away, we need these federal funds to help get the word out about the availability of new insurance coverage options. According to Enroll America's research findings, the majority of uninsured Americans don?t know the health reform law will help them:
Here's a timeline of what needs to happen to be ready by October 1, 2013. Since Illinois is running its exchange/marketplace in partnership with the federal government, we need to be mindful of activities by both the feds and the state:
Already Happened:
If you have any questions about what this means for you or your organization, please don't hesitate to contact us at [email protected].
Stephani Becker
IHM Project Director
- As Federal Website Improves, Gci Promotes A ?culture Of Coverage? Across Illinois
As the federal website continues to improve, Get Covered Illinois today kicked off its first statewide TV advertising campaign, designed to raise awareness of the new state of healthcare that becomes a reality in 2014, with the opportunity to purchase...
- Training For In Person Counselors And Navigators In Illinois
The State is preparing to award grants in early July to community based entities who will employ helpers to educate consumers about their new health care options under the Affordable Care Act and to assist people in enrolling in the new...
- Update On Sb 1194 (the Insurance Navigator Act)
Starting October 2013, an estimated 1.6 million Illinois residents will be eligible for new and affordable forms of public and private health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. But the overwhelming majority of the newly eligible have no...
- The ?culture Of Coverage:? How Illinois Is Making The Health Insurance Marketplace Work
On March 29th, Illinois submitted an outreach and enrollment plan to the federal government, a requirement for all states participating in a state-federal partnership health insurance exchange. In the proposal, the marketplace team explains that they...
- What Is The Illinois Partnership Health Insurance Marketplace?
The Affordable Care Act requires each state to have a health insurance marketplace (otherwise known as a "health insurance exchange"). Originally, the plan was for each state to establish its own health insurance marketplace, or default to a federally-run...
Health News
Great News for the People of Illinois...Now What?
Yesterday, Governor Quinn announced that Illinois was awarded a $115 Million grant for its Health Insurance Marketplace (the online portal to enroll over a million adults and children into quality health plans). A large portion of this federal funding will pay for outreach activities and consumer assistance during the push to enroll the uninsured beginning on October 1 of this year.
This is great news for the people of Illinois.
With October 1 less than six months away, we need these federal funds to help get the word out about the availability of new insurance coverage options. According to Enroll America's research findings, the majority of uninsured Americans don?t know the health reform law will help them:
- 78% of the uninsured don?t know about the new health insurance exchanges
- 83% of people who could be eligible for the new Medicaid expansion don?t know about it.
Here's a timeline of what needs to happen to be ready by October 1, 2013. Since Illinois is running its exchange/marketplace in partnership with the federal government, we need to be mindful of activities by both the feds and the state:
Already Happened:
- Illinois Marketplace Team Selects Training Vendor (UIC/Public Health)
- Marketplace Team Releases Outreach & Education Plan & Conducts Outreach to Encourage Navigator & In Person Assister (IPA) Applications. (Read this fact sheet to learn about the different Consumer Assistance Entities needed).
- Marketplace Team Receives Establishment Grant Funding
- Illinois Marketplace Team Releases RFP for Media and Marketing Outreach Strategy.
- CMS Releases Proposed Standards for Navigators and In Person Assisters (see here for a good summary)
- Federal Government Releases Navigator RFP (Just released today, April 9, 2013; due June 7,
2013; Expected Award Date - August 15, 2013). - Advocates create the Illinois Consumer Assistance Matchmaking Spreadsheet to find partners in either the federal Navigator grant or the (yet to be released) Illinois Assister RFP.
- Marketplace Team Issues RFP/Grant Application for IPA entities
- Marketplace Team Approves IPA Training Materials
- Marketplace Team selects firm for Media and Marketing Outreach Strategy (UPDATE: On 7/12/13 Fleishman Hillard is selected)
- Federal Government Selects Navigator Entities (Due date for application: June 7, 2013)
- Marketplace Team Selects IPA entities (see list here)
- Federal Government Takes Applications for Certified Application Counselors (sign up here)
- Navigators, IPAs, Certified Application Counselors (CACs) Receive Training and Certification.
- Media placement begins
- Navigators, IPAs & CACs Assist Consumers during Open Enrollment
- Navigators, IPAs & CACs Provide Post-Enrollment Assistance & Assistance during Special Enrollment Periods
- Program Oversight Conducted By Marketplace Team and Federal Gov?t.
If you have any questions about what this means for you or your organization, please don't hesitate to contact us at [email protected].
Stephani Becker
IHM Project Director
- As Federal Website Improves, Gci Promotes A ?culture Of Coverage? Across Illinois
As the federal website continues to improve, Get Covered Illinois today kicked off its first statewide TV advertising campaign, designed to raise awareness of the new state of healthcare that becomes a reality in 2014, with the opportunity to purchase...
- Training For In Person Counselors And Navigators In Illinois
The State is preparing to award grants in early July to community based entities who will employ helpers to educate consumers about their new health care options under the Affordable Care Act and to assist people in enrolling in the new...
- Update On Sb 1194 (the Insurance Navigator Act)
Starting October 2013, an estimated 1.6 million Illinois residents will be eligible for new and affordable forms of public and private health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. But the overwhelming majority of the newly eligible have no...
- The ?culture Of Coverage:? How Illinois Is Making The Health Insurance Marketplace Work
On March 29th, Illinois submitted an outreach and enrollment plan to the federal government, a requirement for all states participating in a state-federal partnership health insurance exchange. In the proposal, the marketplace team explains that they...
- What Is The Illinois Partnership Health Insurance Marketplace?
The Affordable Care Act requires each state to have a health insurance marketplace (otherwise known as a "health insurance exchange"). Originally, the plan was for each state to establish its own health insurance marketplace, or default to a federally-run...