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As COVID-19 continues to strangle our nation, various intrinsic flaws embedded in our current health system repeatedly come to light.
A partial and temporary solution to this problem is to increase enrollment in Medicaid, as patients under Medicaid receive CARES funding and don’t have to worry about whether or not a private provider is participating in the reimbursement program. With unemployment rates rivaling those of the Great Depression Era, states are experiencing elevated rates of Medicaid enrollment and thus costs. Some states have taken measures to facilitate the Medicaid enrollment process, such as adding the ability to enroll online or over the phone, shortening waiting times for application processing, and allocating more resources towards increasing the efficiency in determining eligibility. Of course, still more can be done to further streamline the enrollment process: more hospitals should establish presumptive eligibility programs that instantly enroll patients in Medicaid temporarily until full eligibility is processed; presumptive eligibility facilities should be expanded beyond hospitals to providers such as schools, community-based providers, and state agencies; federally facilitated marketplace enrollment determinations should be adopted which would decrease wait times for documents to be processed; and documentation requirements should be minimized for eligibility by implementing the use of more electronic data systems.
For employees and their families who have lost their jobs in the time of the pandemic or no longer qualify for health insurance from their employer, they are able to apply for temporary COBRA coverage, during which they can stay on their previous workplace insurance, typically for up to 18 months. Some modifications have been made to COBRA in light of the pandemic. The typical election period of 60 days in which employees must choose whether or not to stay on COBRA does not begin until the end of the Outbreak Period, which is defined by 60 days after the end of the declared COVID-19 national emergency; premium payment and grace periods also do not start until the end of the Outbreak Period. Essentially, employees adversely affected by COVID-19 in terms of health insurance have a greater time period to continue on their current workplace health insurance, which may provide additional time needed for soon-to-be uninsured workers to transition to another program such as Medicaid.
Edited by Rohan Ravirala Artwork and Design by Annie Liu
As COVID-19 continues to strangle our nation, the various intrinsic flaws embedded in our current health system repeatedly come to light. Costs of care remain a massive problem entangled deep in the US’s health industry. This huge influx of uninsured persons amplifies the persistent struggle for people of lower socioeconomic status, who for various reasons are unqualified for adequate health insurance. They face staggering medical bills from hospitals, emergency visits, prescriptions, and various other healthcare-related costs. Enrollment for Medicaid is a long and oftentimes confusing process, with no defined program dedicated to increasing healthcare literacy for those who have trouble navigating the nuances of the healthcare industry on their own. A handful of states still have yet to pass Medicaid expansion, which would significantly increase those eligible for Medicaid. And the Trump administration, aside from continually delaying or altogether striking various aspects of the ACA, is currently pursuing complete repeal of the act, which would cause millions more to lose health insurance in the middle of a health crisis. These problems will most certainly take an overwhelming amount of time to solve, if even possible, but until then, as individuals, our efforts should be directed towards properly quarantining and otherwise observing the necessary measures to minimize the spread of COVID-19, to both ensure our own health and to help those less fortunate who are impacted much harder than the average individual by this pandemic.
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