In the early days of COVID-19, I remember our member health system and health plan leaders sharing with me their sense of awe over how the entire health care community came together in a spirit of cooperation to address the pandemic. We need to tap into that Jersey can do spirit again because H.R. 1 will bring similar pain to our state and neighbors. And, like the pandemic, it will not hit everyone equally. The most vulnerable will bear the brunt of the changes.
The damage has already begun – including health care providers telling us that their patients are avoiding care out of fear of deportation. Things will get much worse starting in the fall with loss of insurance for certain previously Medicaid-eligible groups of immigrants, and then work requirements and six-month re-enrollment will begin in January 2027 for many adults enrolled in New Jersey Medicaid.
These changes, unfortunately, are purposely designed to be complicated so that many people will lose coverage even if eligible. When people lose coverage, they may still need care, including medications, treatments, and medical advice. Many of the people affected are the very people who served as front line workers getting us through the pandemic. They are working in part time, or hourly and seasonal jobs that do not offer benefits and, therefore, they enroll in Medicaid. We owe it to them to give them every support and chance to stay enrolled.
What can we do? What can your organization do? Several things.
As we previously shared, the Quality Institute and Parker Family Health Center are leading an H.R.1 workgroup. We are working with our steering committee on communications for health care providers, community-based organizations, navigators, and others who work directly with people enrolled in Medicaid to better explain the changes expected and what people need to do to stay enrolled. We would like to hear from you. What types of materials and content, and in what languages, would be most helpful to you? Answer this short survey to share your needs.
Next, for those interested in opening or supporting free care clinics or expanding access to free services, we invite you to share your interest through this short survey. There are strong local and national models for providing free primary care, dental care, mental health services, and medications, and all of these will be critical for individuals who are uninsured or underinsured. We are currently partnering with Parker Family Health Center, Cherry Hill Free Clinic, and Virtua Health to learn from their experience standing up these models of care. We know there are many additional models and perspectives to draw from, and we welcome the opportunity to connect and learn from others doing this work.
In addition to our work, the State Agencies, especially DHS and DOBI, are working hard to keep people in enrolled. In today’s Take Five, you will hear from Stephanie Bell of VIMO, the health care technology company that provides the technical operations of New Jersey’s ACA insurance marketplace. She discusses how to make it easier for consumers to submit work documentation and reduce bureaucratic hurdles that could push eligible people off Medicaid.
Another Quality Institute member, CHEMED, a federally qualified health center based in Lakewood, has a team of people inside their center helping people navigate the enrollment systems. The center will also help people who cannot work or who cannot find work identify community service opportunities to meet the new work requirements for Medicaid eligibility. You can hear from CHEMED’s CEO, Dovid Friedman, M.D., in our next newsletter.
We are going to need to meet this crisis with innovations like the ones we are sharing, along with old school communications and trusted person-to-person conversations. I look forward to hearing from you and meeting this moment together.