On Thursday, March 2, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure and CMS leadership met with senior leadership of health insurance plans and associations. CMS was pleased to welcome Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to open the meeting.
Conversations focused on the upcoming unwinding of the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) continuous enrollment requirement. Navigating this transition will require a coordinated effort, in which health plans make clear that they are dedicated to playing a large role. Plans discussed their efforts to contact and educate their current Medicaid and CHIP enrollees, such as by mail, in person, and through community partners, about eligibility renewals and health insurance coverage options. CMS and the health insurance plan and association attendees agreed to continue to collaborate – and to identify best practices and challenges – throughout this transition. As part of CMS’ commitment to providing information to help stakeholders plan for the renewals process, CMS released the anticipated state timelines for initiating unwinding-related renewals (as of February 24, 2023).
Meeting participants also discussed the importance of helping enrollees understand their plan benefits and timely access to care for people with Medicare Advantage, including the impact of prior authorization. To this end, plans shared their efforts to help providers and enrollees navigate plan requirements and provide information about coverage options. Additionally, CMS received feedback on proposed annual updates to Medicare Advantage.
The associations in attendance included the Association for Community Affiliated Plans, the Alliance of Community Health Plans, America’s Health Insurance Plans, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, and Medicaid Health Plans of America. Health insurance plan attendees included AmeriHealth Caritas, CareSource, Centene, CIGNA, CVS/Aetna, Elevance Health, Highmark, Humana, Kaiser Permanente, Molina, Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island, Priority Health, Security Health Plan, and UnitedHealthcare.
CMS is committed to collaborating with our partners on our efforts to advance health equity, expand coverage, and improve health outcomes for people. CMS will continue to actively engage all stakeholders to ensure our policies best serve the more than 150 million people served by our programs today and those that will be served in the future.
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