History might instruct us to stop clutching our pearls over enrollment figures to date:
The Urban Institute and the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) are cosponsoring an upcoming event to explore state experiences enrolling families into Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Sharing lessons to guide implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the December 17 session features findings from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Maximizing Enrollment program, which NASHP directs, along with fresh analysis from state officials and national experts.
One important lesson is already clear: the need for patience. News media have hyperventilated about the first days and months of ACA enrollment. But low enrollment during the ACA’s first few years is both likely and entirely consistent with past state experience. It would certainly not doom ACA to eventual failure in covering the eligible uninsured.
–Stan Dorn, The Urban Institute
Adrianna (@onceuponA)
