Advocates and Policymakers Await Data on How Many Transition to Marketplace Coverage

Data released on May 19 by the Governor’s Office indicate that nearly 63,000 people have lost BadgerCare eligibility this year because of state policy changes. The vast majority of them lost their BadgerCare coverage on April 1 because of eligibility changes enacted by state lawmakers in the 2013-15 budget bill, and they have until May 30 to sign up for a subsidized private insurance plan via the federal Marketplace. (This DHS document breaks out the number losing coverage by county or tribe.)

Hopefully, most of those individuals have already signed up for coverage through the Marketplace, but we don’t have that data yet. Fortunately, the waiver that Wisconsin received from federal officials to make changes to BadgerCare requires the state to answer that important question by doing a cross match of the Marketplace enrollment files with the state’s BadgerCare data.  As I understand it, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has shared those Marketplace files with the state.

Although DHS has said they can’t or won’t run the cross match until next month, Senator Baldwin is urging the Governor and DHS not to wait, so we can see how the transition is going before we run up against the May 30 deadline. Read more in this May 22 Capital Times article about the Baldwin letter and in this excellent State Journal editorial about the importance of finding out in the coming weeks how many people who lost BadgerCare coverage were able to make the transition to the Marketplace.

Although the open enrollment period for Marketplace coverage ended on March 30th, and the next open enrollment period doesn’t begin until November 15, many people still have options to get subsidized coverage:

• People who are eligible for Medicaid or Medicare can sign up at any time.
• People who are ineligible for Medicaid can sign up for Marketplace coverage during a 60-day special enrollment period if they have a “qualifying event.”

Some of the “qualifying events” that trigger a special enrollment period include the following:

• Involuntarily losing other health coverage;
• Marriage or divorce;
• Having a baby, adopting a child or placing a child for adoption or foster care;
• Moving your residence, gaining citizenship, or leaving incarceration.

If you qualify for a special enrollment period, go to HealthCare.Gov for more information about Marketplace coverage or to sign up today!

Jon Peacock