Implementing National Health Reform: A Five-Part Strategy for Reaching the Eligible Uninsured

This Urban Institute issue brief examines the challenges of health coverage enrollment and provides tactics for Federal policymakers to increase participation in health insurance programs created or expanded by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Health coverage programs often fall short of their enrollment goals. Even the Children’s Health Insurance Program, now very effective in reaching uninsured children, had difficulty reaching all eligible children in the program’s early years. However, programs like low-income subsidies for Medicare Part D and Massachusetts’ 2006 health reforms rapidly achieved high participation levels by using reliable data to identify eligible consumers, qualify them for assistance, and enroll them in coverage. The issue brief suggests a five-part strategy that Federal policymakers could use to achieve similar results when ACA’s main provisions begin in 2014.