Updates on the Oregon Health Insurance Marketplace

From the Community Partner Outreach Team Community Partner Newsletter.

Cancelling Marketplace Coverage
When consumers cancel their Marketplace health insurance plan, coverage doesn't end immediately. Cancellation takes effect no sooner than 14 days after the consumer notifies HealthCare.gov that they want to end their coverage and HealthCare.gov will collect premiums until the coverage ends. If a consumer gets other coverage, such as job-based coverage, Medicare, Medicaid, or CHIP, it's important that they contact HealthCare.gov online or by phone as soon as they know the start date of their other coverage. More information about cancelling Marketplace coverage can be found online.

Special Enrollment Period for Marketplace Coverage
HealthCare.gov now has a permanent special enrollment period for victims of domestic abuse and spousal abandonment outside of the regular open enrollment period. Eligible individuals will have 60 days after submitting a request to HealthCare.gov to sign up him or herself and his or her dependents for health insurance through HealthCare.gov. More information about Guidance on Victims of Domestic Abuse and Spousal Abandonment is available online.

Open Enrollment Events
During open enrollment (November 1, 2015 - January 31, 2016), the Marketplace doesn't plan to host its own, separate enrollment events. Instead, the Marketplace will support enrollment events planned and hosted by OHA community partners. The Marketplace can help by providing staff, materials, and health insurance agent contacts. Community partners interested in receiving Marketplace support should reach out to their OHA Regional Outreach Coordinator.

OregonHealthCare.gov

We will continue to gradually improve OregonHeatlhCare.gov leading up to open enrollment. This will include improving the screening questions to make sure customers get sent to the right application process, and we will begin to post resources for agents, insurers, and community partners on the partner resources pages http://www.oregonhealthcare.gov/partner-resources.html.
Longer term, we would also like to look at redesigning the website to make it easier to view on mobile devices and provide an improved experience for customers who speak languages other than English. For questions about the website, please contact joel.c.metlen@oregon.gov. 

Advisory Committee
Applications for appointments to the Oregon Health Insurance Marketplace Advisory Committee are now available online.
The Advisory Committee will provide feedback on issues affecting the Marketplace such as outreach, customer feedback, and insurance plan affordability. It will consist of 13 members appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Oregon Senate, representing insurers, insurance producers, navigators, health care providers, businesses, consumer advocacy groups, enrollees in health plans, and medical assistance agencies. The Department of Consumer and Business Services director and Oregon Health Authority director will be ex-officio members.
In addition to providing feedback on the marketplace, the committee will hold open meetings that provide a forum for public discussion.

Marketplace Marketing
DCBS has signed a contract with Grady Britton (gradybritton.com), a local marketing firm that is teaming up with Metropolitan Group (metgroup.com) to provide outreach and marketing services to both the Marketplace and the Oregon Insurance Division. Grady Britton, Metropolitan Group, and DCBS are currently working on creating and finalizing an outreach and marketing plan for open enrollment by the end of August.

Outreach Materials
OHA and Marketplace staff will meet this month to discuss developing outreach materials for community partners and agents. The Marketplace's new marketing company will help produce a couple of items. Others will be developed in-house and made available for download from OregonHealthCare.gov. We expect to have materials developed by October to have them ready for open enrollment in November.

Grants for QHP Outreach and Application Assistance
DCBS and OHA are currently evaluating proposals received in response to the recent Request for Grant Proposals issued by OHA for two $100,000 grants for qualified health plan (QHP) outreach and application assistance. We expect to award the grants sometime this fall before open enrollment.

Small Business Health Options Program
DCBS is continuing to develop a plan to implement the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP). We intend to release an RFP in the next few months. In the meantime, information about SHOP can be found at http://www.oregonhealthcare.gov/small-business-2.html.

OREGON ELIGIBILITY (ONE) Progress update for ONE

ONE System Access
As mentioned previously, the Oregon Eligibility (ONE) worker portal will go live in December 2015. This part of the system is where staff will enter and manage eligibility information.
The ONE applicant portal will go live in February 2016. This is where community partners and the public will submit applications and report changes.

First users
Several internal OHA units have been identified to obtain access to ONE's worker portal once launched in December 2015. These units were identified based on how directly their work impacts the delivery of medical benefits and the need to give access in phases following the rate at which training can be provided.
OHA Regional Outreach Coordinators and certified application assisters will be granted access to ONE's applicant portal when it is launched in February 2016.

Training Plan
A training plan is being finalized for the rollout of system access to these first user units. The project team is also working in conjunction with identified staff from each unit to develop training material and arrange for training this fall.

Change Agents
Key individuals have been identified and engaged from the "first-user" units to serve as local experts in their work units. These change agents provide input on the project as well as help delivering project information to the units they represent.

Current Events
Limited modifications to Kentucky's KYNECT system for the initial rollout of ONE have been decided upon and are under development

• System testing by users will begin in the fall, and planning for that process has begun
• Internal training is currently being developed for initial system users, and it will begin in the fall