PANELISTS Raul Macias Jen Flory Voting Rights Attorney Senior - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

PANELISTS Raul Macias

Voting Rights Attorney

ACLU of California Voting Rights Project

Jen Flory

Senior Attorney

Western Center on Law & Poverty

Covered California – Round 2 Open Enrollment & Renewals

Jen Flory Western Center on Law & Poverty 24 September 2014

WESTERN CENTER ON LAW & POVERTY

 Open Enrollment  How to Apply  Lessons from last year  Renewals

What We’ll Cover

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Open Enrollment

November 15, 2014 - February 15, 2015

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Ways Consumers Will Apply “No Wrong Door”

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• Online
• Through Covered California website
• Through SAWS portal
• By Phone
• To the statewide Covered California Service Center
• Direct to county or county call center
• Mail
• Sent to Covered California
• Sent to county human services department
• In person
• At a county social services office
• Assisted by certified enrollment counselors

6

Online

 Covered California-operated Service Centers (Sacramento, Contra Costa and Fresno) take phone applications, answer questions/provide assistance, and process mail-in applications.

 Monday – Friday 8 am to 6 pm and Saturdays 8 am to 5 pm.

 County social services offices can also take phone applications.

Phone

New Single, Streamlined Paper App

 For Medi-Cal and Exchange coverage (Should include AIM program, referral to county programs)  For non-MAGI Medi- Cal, the counties have to get additional information.

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Applying in Person

• With an enrollment counselor or at a county welfare
• ffice.
• County workers trained on Exchange eligibility as well as

plan choice.

• “Certified enrollment counselors” certified and trained by

Covered California and can receive $58 for a successful Exchange enrollment; $25 for an Exchange renewal. TCE has donated funds to compensate for Medi-Cal enrollments.

• Certified Insurance Agent – paid by plans

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Renewals

October 6, 2014 – December 15, 2014

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Oct 6-Oct 30 Renewal Notices go out on rolling giving 30 days to renew Oct 7-Nov 15 Targeted renewal notices (might be a better plan, plan no longer available) Nov 1 Plans send out renewal notices Oct 10 – Dec 15 Notices of eligibility for APTCs Nov 14 – Dec 16 Notices with plan selection and APTC amount

Renewal Process

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 If no consent to verify income, no APTCs/CSRs available  Plan must still be available(e.g. not Contra Costa Health Plan, certain types of Health Net plans)  Special rules for those no longer eligible for their plans (catastrophic, Enhanced Silver Plans)  Cannot auto-enroll into a different carrier

Auto-renewal

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 Can change plans until February 15, 2015 via open enrollment  Bear in mind date that coverage will change depends on when change requested  Many people will also be reporting changes via the renewal process, so their premiums will change again

Changes?

 Current Covered California Regulations: http://hbex.coveredca.com/regulations/ (Eligibility & renewal regulations are under “Eligibility and Enrollment and Appeals Process”; most recent is 9-12-14)  Help for Consumers: Health Consumer Alliance, 888-804-3536, www.healthconsumer.org

Resources

WESTERN CENTER ON LAW & POVERTY

Voter Registration at Covered California

Raúl Macías, Voting Rights Attorney ACLU of California Voting Rights Project

Why Voter Registration at Covered California?

• Federal law: National Voter Registration Act

– Public assistance agencies required to provide voter registration opportunities

• California leading: Other states working on

compliance

– First to designate health benefit exchange a voter registration agency

How did we get here?

• May 2013: Covered California designated as voter

registration agency by SOS.

• October 2013: Open enrollment period begins without

voter registration.

• March 2014: After threat of lawsuit, Covered California and

SOS reach settlement agreement with ACLU, Demos, and Project Vote to fully comply with federal and state voting rights laws by 2014 open enrollment.

• May 2014: Covered California completes remedial mailing

to 2.6 million households. Ongoing mailings begin for special enrollment applicants.

• November 2014: Covered California to be fully compliant

with voting rights laws.

When will Covered California provide voter registration?

• With each:

– Application – Renewal – Change of address

• All transactions, whether:

– Online – Mail – In-person – Phone

• Consumers receive voter registration regardless
• f eligibility.

In-Person Assistance

• Provided by:

– Certified enrollment counselors – Navigators – Certified insurance agents – County welfare offices

• Must provide same degree of assistance as with

Covered CA forms unless assistance declined.

• Note: Consumers applying with plan based

enrollers will all be mailed a voter registration card.

In-Person Assistance Continued…

• Training for assisters will include:

– Voter registration training module included in computer based training for CECs, insurance agents, navigators, and plan based enrollers. – Covered California will host webinar training. – Preparation to provide equal assistance.

Online Applications and Renewals

Consumers have three options Notice of rights Not mandatory to answer Page appears before eligibility determination

Consumers taken to www.registertovote.ca.gov Voter registration form available in 10 languages Note: Consumers without state ID or SSN can still use online voter registration

Phone transactions

• Consumers applying, renewing, or changing

address by phone will be mailed voter registration cards.

• Assistance with voter registration available by

phone from county elections offices or Secretary of State office (800) 345-8683.

Paper/Mail Applications

If a consumer is applying in- person with an assister and internet is not available, consumer will be mailed a voter registration card If a consumer is applying in- person with an assister and internet is available, assister will take consumer to www.coveredca.gov voter registration page ☐ Yes, please mail me a voter registration card. ☐ Yes, I will go online and register to vote at www.registertovote.ca.gov.

Note: If you do not check a box, you will be considered to have decided not to register to vote at this time and a voter registration card will be mailed to you

Renewals

• Consumers who renew online, in-person, or

by phone will receive voter registration as part

• f that process.
• Consumers who do not actively renew during
• pen enrollment and are automatically

renewed by Covered California will be mailed a voter registration card.

Resources

• Problems or concerns? We want to know:

rmacias@acluca.org

• Covered California assisters will receive a task guide

which includes responsibilities, screenshots, and FAQ

• n voter registration.
• ACLU has a toolkit with fact sheets for NVRA agency

employees: www.aclusandiego.org/nvra-toolkit/

• ACLU has website with info on voting rights of formerly

incarcerated: www.letmevoteca.org

• Secretary of State website has information for voters

and NVRA agencies: www.sos.ca.gov

THANK YOU Raul Macias

Voting Rights Attorney

ACLU of California Voting Rights Project

rmacias@acluca.org

Jen Flory

Senior Attorney

Western Center on Law & Poverty

jflory@wclp.org

Please feel free to email any questions/comments you may have to: