The key role brokers played in ACA enrollments

A new report by the Kaiser Family Foundation examines the pivotal role for brokers in four state-based marketplace schemes.

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Brokers in four states led the way in healthcare enrollments by either working the front lines at sign-up centers, or behind the scenes coordinating enrollments with marketplace “assisters” to help people choose plans best suited to their needs.

A new report by the Kaiser Family Foundation studied the role health insurance providers played in enrolling Medicaid recipients and uninsured in Connecticut, Colorado, Kentucky and Washington.

In Colorado, the presence of certified brokers at walk-in sites helped draw in customers considering “assisters” cannot make specific recommendations on plans best suited for individuals. Moreover, brokers in the state were fundamental in helping enrollees with specific health needs such as HIV and diabetes, and with helping to inform consumers about which drug formularies and services were covered in each plan.

According to the report, in the state of Washington, brokers enrolled more than 10,000 people during the open enrollment period, including one in then new Medicaid claimants.

The report also found, approximately 40% of enrollments in Kentucky were expedited by insurance brokers through the state’s Kynect program.

Brokers in Connecticut developed language specific fact sheets based on the state’s large Portuguese immigrant population. This aided a large proportion of the 79,192 individuals who selected a plan though the state’s Access Health program.

What sets these cases apart is each of these states decided to establish a State-based Marketplace when implementing the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, rather than relying on federal government’s exchange, the default option for states that didn’t provide their own marketplaces.

Furthermore, the study expressed a range of improvements and focuses for brokers going forward:

1.    Continue to educate consumers about Medicaid enrollment and Special Enrollment Periods
2.    Reach the remaining eligible and uninsured
3.    Ensure adequate consumer service networks are available
4.    Increase health insurance and health care literacy among consumers
5.    Connect individuals to sources of care

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