In 2009, the economic downturn resulted in record demands on health and human service providers and agencies across the state. The Gathering Place, for example, saw a 20% increase in the number of homeless women and children seeking services. Routt County's unemployment rate doubled. Mesa County experienced a 97% increase in applications for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Food Stamp programs, leading to delays of more than 70 days in processing benefit applications. And child enrollment in Medicaid contributed to the largest caseloads in the Colorado program's 40-year history. Additionally, the Colorado Health Institute estimates that of the 153,000 uninsured Colorado children up to age 18, more than 78,000 were eligible yet not enrolled in Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+).
Still, gains were made in expanding coverage for children and adults, and in more effectively reaching out to and enrolling eligible children in public health insurance programs. State legislation passed in 2009 – HB09-1020 and HB09-1353 – should make it easier for families to navigate the Medicaid and CHP+ programs by establishing phone- and Internet-based systems for re-enrollment, and eliminating the enrollment waiting period for pregnant women and children. As well, Colorado received a $42 million federal grant to help improve enrollment systems for the children and adults who are newly eligible for Medicaid coverage as a result of the Colorado Health Care Affordability Act.
The Trusted Hand approach to application assistance, in which community-based organizations assist families in enrolling children in public health insurance programs, also shows great promise. Nineteen community-based organizations are receiving support from The Colorado Trust to identify and enroll eligible, but uninsured children and youth in Medicaid and CHP+. These organizations include after-school programs, clinics, agencies serving low-income families, homeless families and abused children, a school district and an affordable housing provider. Additionally, The Trust is providing support to the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing to modernize the eligibility determination process and to support a Community Outreach Specialist who provides technical assistance and guidance to grantees and other community-based organizations statewide.
The Trust also supported The Maze, a research study developed by Colorado Covering Kids and Families. This study identifies the barriers that keep Colorado's eligible children and families out of Medicaid and CHP+ and provides recommendations on how to streamline and simplify this process. Based on a comprehensive review of administrative and policy options and best practices, the report provides policy recommendations to help guide Colorado's decisionmakers in their work to simplify the path to Medicaid and CHP+ coverage. Several of the report's recommendations are underway, such as improvements to the state's computer enrollment system, application simplifications and improved capabilities for on-line application and eligibility pre-screenings.
LOOKING AHEAD, The Colorado Trust is supporting strategies to:
- Increase Trusted Hand enrollment opportunities
- Research and support the state enrollment system and community-based outreach programs in enrolling newly eligible people in public health insurance
- Sustain improvements made to outreach and enrollment for children.
See a list of all grantees receiving support from The Colorado Trust to Increase Outreach and Enrollment.
