The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) was enacted on March 18th 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It included provisions to help individuals maintain their Medicaid coverage without renewing their eligibility every few months. However, the FFCRA was only a temporary measure and did not provide permanent changes to Medicaid eligibility rules. This extension will end on March 31st 2023, affecting between 5 and 14 million people.
CMS has introduced a new Special Enrollment Period for people losing their extended Medicaid or CHIP benefits. It provides an opportunity to enroll in ACA Marketplace health insurance plans and ensures access to affordable and comprehensive healthcare coverage.
Marketplace-eligible consumers who lose Medicaid and CHIP coverage due to the Unwinding can qualify for the Unwinding SEP between March 31st 2023,and July 31st 2024, by submitting or updating an application.
What is the Unwinding Period?
The Unwinding Period is the process of resuming regular eligibility and enrollment operations after the continuous enrollment condition ends on March 31st 2023. It includes renewals and coverage terminations. States may begin terminating Medicaid enrollment for individuals no longer eligible as early as April 1st 2023.
States will have:
States will have up to 12 months (i.e., March 31, 2024) to initiate renewals for all individuals enrolled as of the last day of the continuous enrollment condition.
States will have up to 14 months (i.e., May 31, 2024) to complete an eligibility renewal for all individuals in their programs.
Renewals have begun on February 1, with the first terminations effective on 1st April 2023.
Consumers who receive advance notice that their Medicaid is ending on March 31st can start enrolling immediately in other coverage to ensure continuity of coverage.
Consumers do not have to answer any new application questions to be eligible for the Unwinding SEP. The existing application question on HealthCare.gov has been updated by CMS to ask about recent loss of Medicaid or CHIP coverage, and the functionality has been updated to grant the Unwinding SEP to eligible consumers. Eligibility can also be determined through partner applications that ask about recent loss of Medicaid or CHIP coverage
Consumers are not required to provide documentation to prove their eligibility for the Unwinding SEP. They will need to attest to the loss of Medicaid or CHIP coverage as a part of the application process.
The Unwinding Period Timeline
Consumers who lose Medicaid or CHIP coverage from March 31st 2023, through July 31st 2024, will qualify for a 60-day Special Enrollment Period (SEP) starting from the day they update or submit a Marketplace application. The Unwinding SEP will be automatically granted to consumers based on their applications.
Consumers who declare that they have previously lost Medicaid or CHIP coverage, their Marketplace coverage will commence from the first day of the month after they choose a plan. For instance, if a consumer picks a plan on August 25th, coverage will start from September 1st.
Consumers who indicate that they will lose Medicaid or CHIP coverage in the future, their Marketplace coverage will commence from the first day of the month following their last day of Medicaid coverage
About Inshura
Inshura is a FREE online ACA insurance tool, perfect for agents and agencies! Agents can boost their ACA and other enrollments using this easy-to-use solution for quoting, enrolling, automating renewals, and managing clients!
And inshura is CMS EDE PHASE III certified, so it automatically exchanges data directly from the Marketplace.
Inshura is fully integrated with the ACA marketplace and private carriers.
Building excitement about industry-changing technology is the key to growth. As a professional communicator, Paul turns complex, technical projects into compelling customer stories that build excitement and grow sales. And Paul’s Marketing and PR campaigns convince people to re-think & improve their business.
From Omnichannel outreach to Technical SEO, TV Advertising to Social Media, Paul connects Inshura’s message to thousands of people selectively targeted to bring about the best ROI, ensuring 3x to 5x company annual growth.
With an incredible depth of knowledge about an insurance agency’s day-to-day operations, the experience Linette gained while managing her agency is vital to our understanding of an agent’s daily needs.
Bringing more than a decade of experience to Inshura, Linette was recognized as one of the highest Medicare-producing brokerages, with special honors for Compliance and Customer Service before joining our team.
Linette’s real-world insights and ability to connect with customers are invaluable to both our development and marketing teams.
With more than twenty-five years of experience in commercial litigation, commercial transactions, and regulatory compliance, Susan, our Chief Legal Officer, oversees Inshura’s legal and compliance responsibilities.
Susan has represented many businesses in diverse but relevant fields including information technology, healthcare, insurance, and professional services. The breadth and depth of her legal knowledge and experience enables her to help Inshura stay on top in the fast-paced and growing online insurance market.
Before joining Inshura, Matthew built a very successful insurance business. The experience and insights he gained along the way translate to an ability to communicate with other insurance professionals and bring them into the Inshura family.
Under Matthew’s stewardship, Inshura has grown year-over-year, with inshura experiencing a 5x growth in health insurance sales.
Turning ideas into products is what Ashwini does best. We turn to her to take a vision and mold those ideas into viable products.
With a unique ability to work closely with multiple departments, like engineering, sales, marketing, and customer service departments, Ashwini deftly consolidates input from every department and then guides the development of successful, feature-rich, and easy-to-use solutions.
Passionate about product quality, with a customer-focused perspective, Manal leads the departmental teams to design the very best solutions.
His experience with the medical and technology industries translates into an ability to interpret and define new processes and automation strategies that bring Inshura its’ unique and efficient functionality.
With a Computer Engineering degree and later an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, Manal’s experience and leadership is proven by our rapid growth.
With a keen insight into technology, development, and business operations, Ravi is growing Inshura into a next-generation company focused on technology and the customer.
As a strategic innovator, Ravi was central to the success of multiple projects at Verisign, Portal/Oracle, and ACT TV. With decades of leadership experience in the high-tech, fintech, and logistics industries, he is expanding the scope of inshura to include AI, ML, and other new technologies.
Starting with just two people, Girish took just a few short years to build a $135 million technology company.
Mr. Panicker received his degree in Computer Science, then earned a Master of Science in Computer Science from Drexel University in Philadelphia. In 2003, Girish transformed his software skills and passion for building custom software into his own business.
Inshura is his latest innovation. An insurance quoting and enrollment platform that solves daily challenges experienced by thousands of insurance agents.
