New York State has reached the halfway point in its “unwinding” of COVID-19-related continuous coverage provisions—gleaning important wisdom about the best strategies to ensure millions of New Yorkers maintain their Medicaid, Child Health Plus, or Essential Plan coverage, or find another affordable plan.
Speaking at a UHF event on December 6, state officials underscored the significance these lessons will have not only in supporting the next six months of the unwinding effort, but in making permanent improvements to the State’s health plan marketplace.
The convening—the third in a series hosted by UHF on the unwinding—brought together hundreds of stakeholders to discuss the latest enrollment data, ongoing challenges, and these future opportunities to build a better eligibility and enrollment system for New Yorkers.
“We are seeing in action a process whereby we have people inside of government and outside of government collectively fighting the status quo in service of New Yorkers,” UHF President and CEO Oxiris Barbot, MD, told nearly 400 virtual and in-person attendees. “We are not just sitting back and letting this happen—we are actively looking for ways to make it easier for New Yorkers to remain covered.”
Attendees of the “Surviving the Unwinding Part III: Halftime Analysis and Building for the Future” event first heard from Kimberly Uweh, a health outreach specialist with The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Ms. Uweh provided a national context for the unwinding process, which could result in 15 million people losing coverage across the country.
In New York, officials have initiated nearly 3.5 million renewals in the first six months of the unwinding. Around 72 percent of these customers successfully renewed their coverage, while 26 percent did not complete renewal and 2 percent were found to be ineligible, a panel of NY State of Health Marketplace and New York State Department of Health officials said.
During this period, the State has sent millions of outreach emails, text messages, notices, and calls, including ZIP-code level messaging specifically targeted toward communities most at risk of losing coverage. Sonia Sekhar, deputy director at NY State of Health Marketplace, noted that groups lagging in renewals continue to be young adults and Spanish-speaking customers.
“We keep trying to adapt our outreach, communications, and partnerships to account for the areas where we’re lagging,” she said.
Looking toward the future, officials previewed a multi-year New York State Medicaid Transformation that will focus on creating a more holistic and consumer-friendly health care experience, including improvements to New York’s 40-year-old IT platform, the Welfare Management System (WMS). Staff also highlighted 10 federal waivers granted during the unwinding that provide New York with greater flexibility as it reassesses eligibility and renews coverage.
New York is also one of seven states working with the U.S. Digital Service, a federal entity that offers technical expertise to improve consumer experience during the renewal process. The agency has helped expedite improvements in New York’s renewal process that could eventually become long-term changes.
“We want to know why every single one of those individuals made it through [renewal] or did not make it through,” said Luke Farrell, project lead with the U.S. Digital Service. “What we are looking for is, ‘Are there reasons in there where we now have policy flexibilities that can prevent those people from falling out?’”
In the day’s final panel, leaders from Healthfirst, Molina Healthcare, and Fidelis Care discussed on-the-ground challenges and strategies to help consumers stay covered.
“If you boil down what we’re doing together, it really is a quality improvement process,” Dr. Barbot told attendees. “We all have a stake in ensuring that this is a successful endeavor, and New York State continues to be at the forefront in ensuring that New Yorkers who need coverage stay covered.”
Find an agenda, slide deck, and full video of the unwinding convening below.
