Have no health insurance, including Medicare and Medicaid. Make less money before taxes than a certain limit. Medicaid serves as a Health Care Plan that offers coverage for doctor visits, hospitalization, eye care, dental, durable medical equipment, transportation and other related medical services. Preventive Care checkups, diet and nutrition. Health screenings tests. Prescription drugs. Dental services cleanings or fillings.
Family planning services birth control. Urgent and emergency care emergency room. Immunizations shots. What are some of the services that DC Healthcare Alliance covers? What are some of the services that DC Healthcare Alliance does not cover?
How much does DC Healthcare Alliance cost? How do DC Healthcare Alliance participants get services? You are eligible to enroll if you: Do NOT meet the citizenship or eligible immigration status requirements to enroll in private health insurance or Medicaid; and Are a District resident; and Are not currently incarcerated.
How much does Cover All DC cost? Is financial help available? People enrolling through the Cover All DC do not qualify for reduced premiums. Are there income-based qualifications? Which companies offer health and dental insurance plans through Cover All DC? Dental benefits can be purchased separately. What are some of the services covered by health insurance plans available through Cover All DC? Each health plan has a benefit package that covers at least the following minimum benefits: Doctor visits Hospital stays Emergency room care Maternity and newborn care Prescription drugs Lab tests Preventive tests and services.
Rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices Chronic disease management Mental health care Substance use disorder services Dental care for children Vision care for children. Research shows that shorter recertification periods create a barrier to participation and lead to a higher rate of churn. Given that many Alliance members are working — often at jobs without paid leave — and that visiting a social service center can take an entire day or longer many are not seen the first day they visit , the six-month in-person recertification process means foregoing a day or more of pay and risking losing a job to maintain health coverage.
In addition, participants are sicker when they re-enroll, and the residents most willing to go through the difficult process of maintaining coverage are those with the greatest health needs.
Research also shows that health care costs go down the longer someone is covered by insurance, because continuous coverage improves access to preventive care and makes it possible to seek prompt care when health problems arise.
The high rate of turnover in the Alliance thus partially explains why its costs have grown sharply, doubling in just the last four years, even though the number of participants has not grown. The cost increases also appear to reflect other factors, including a growing number of older participants. More DC residents would have health insurance and maintain continuous coverage. In addition, program costs per person would likely go down, or at least stop growing at the extremely high rate they are growing now, as residents receive better care and as healthier residents, currently discouraged from staying on, are able to maintain coverage.
The DC Council adopted legislation in to replace the six-month requirement with a one-year recertification requirement and allow Alliance participants to renew their eligibility through community health centers, but it has not been implemented because the Mayor and Council have not yet identified the funding needed to serve the thousands of residents expected to receive coverage as a result of the change.
In the last 18 months, just half of the Alliance beneficiaries who were up for renewal ended up renewing their benefits. Generally level Alliance participation means that nearly half of the Alliance participants turn over every six months.
It is highly unlikely that the turnover reflects a dramatic change in who is eligible for the Alliance, since income and residency are likely to be more stable than that. There is a substantial body of research showing that frequent recertification leads to a high rate of churn. A large fraction of the people who visit social service centers are there because of the Alliance, even though the Alliance is much smaller than programs like Medicaid or SNAP.
Given these barriers, the high rate of Alliance participants who do not renew every six months is understandable. While the number of Alliance participants has not increased, program costs have grown 21 percent per year between and , at a time when medical inflation was 3 percent. It is likely that churn is a factor behind rising costs and that replacing the six-month recertification requirement would ultimately result in lower per-person costs in the Alliance.
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