Center for Children and Families, Georgetown University Health Policy Institute

Although New York State has a relatively broad set of health insurance coverage options available to its residents below certain income levels, the public has trouble understanding their eligibility for these programs.

Additionally, health care providers, State and county staff, and other stakeholders often have difficulty navigating who is eligible for what. To address this issue, the New York State Department of Health’s Office of Health Insurance Programs (OHIP) asked NYHealth to engage the Center for Children and Families (CCF) at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute to determine which changes to State law would be possible under Federal law to simplify coverage options and improve program participation rates. CCF then conducted a study to review the New York State Medicaid program’s multiple and overlapping eligibility categories and recommended options for OHIP to collapse and simplify those categories.

This project was part of a larger NYHealth authorization that funded a series of quick-strike analyses to help the New York State Department of Health’s (NYSDOH’s) Office of Health Insurance Programs find ways to streamline and expand its public health insurance programs.

Read an NYHealth special report that contains a summary of findings from this authorization.

Although New York State has a relatively broad set of health insurance coverage options available to its residents below certain income levels, the public has trouble understanding their eligibility for these programs. Additionally, health care providers, State and county staff, and other stakeholders often have difficulty navigating who is eligible for what. To address this issue, the New York State Department of Health’s Office of Health Insurance Programs (OHIP) asked NYHealth to engage the Center for Children and Families (CCF) at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute to determine which changes to State law would be possible under Federal law to simplify coverage options and improve program participation rates.

CCF will provide technical assistance, support, and recommendations to OHIP with respect to its Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program reform efforts, and more particularly, its efforts to simplify enrollment and retention for families, the agency, and its contractors toward the goal of boosting coverage among Medicaid- and SCHIP-eligible individuals. CCF will conduct a study to review the New York State Medicaid program’s multiple and overlapping eligibility categories and recommended options for OHIP to collapse and simplify those categories.