Benefits Program: Medicaid/CHIP
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Healing Policy Papercuts: Aligning small conflicts in application requirements makes public benefits easier to access
Integrating eligibility and enrollment benefits is an increasingly important undertaking for state governments around the country. However, states already in the process of integrating benefits are encountering an issue: differing and contradictory submission requirements dictated by the federal agencies running these benefits programs. Aligning these fragmented requirements is necessary to build a truly human-centered process for state benefits programs.
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An Early Look at the Impacts of the Response to COVID-19 on Medicaid Churn
Given that the effects of the COVID-19 crisis will likely last for a while, it is crucial that states continue to prioritize coverage continuity to further improve the overall health outcomes of their enrollees and reduce administrative burden.
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Medicaid Churn Toolkit
Benefits Data Trust (BDT) has developed this “Medicaid Churn Toolkit” to guide Medicaid agencies and their partners in the design and implementation of efforts to reduce churn as they plan for the resumption of normal eligibility and enrollment actions after the after the initial COVID shock.
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Human-Centered Design Proof Points for Human-Centered Benefits Administration
Code for America’s Integrated Benefits Initiative has been working in partnership with the State of Colorado to demonstrate how user-centered approaches lead to measurably better delivery of safety net programs. This article describes their work with the state of Colorado in simplifying how clients report common life changes that can affect their eligibility.
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Building Healthier Lives Through Increased SNAP Participation
This fact sheet describes a study demonstrating that Benefits Data Trust’s Outreach and Application Assistance increased SNAP participation more than seven-fold, reducing Medicaid spending and improving health in North Carolina.
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Human-Centered Design How Human-Centered Is our Social Safety Net?
This article discusses Code for America’s research into the user experience of applying or Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, WIC, and LIHEAP in the United States. They found that user experience applying for benefits programs varies greatly by (and often within) each state.
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Human-Centered Design Report: Modernizing Access to the Safety Net
Innovators inside and outside of government are working to improve access to the social safety net using data, technology, and design. This report highlights innovations carried out by The Rockefeller Foundation’s Data and Technology grantees from 2018 to 2021, including extraordinary efforts to meet the challenges of the pandemic. Those grantees are: Benefits Data Trust, Code for America, Georgetown University’s Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation, U.S. Digital Response, and the Digital Innovation and Governance Initiative at New America. In 2020, these projects secured more than $200 million in benefits for close to 100,000 people across at least 36 states, and helped millions more through policy change, training, and guidance.
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Policy A Modernized System of Benefits is the Foundation for an Inclusive Economy
Report by the Aspen Institute discussing Benefits21, a multi-stakeholder, multi-faceted initiative to integrate and modernize benefits systems. This paper provides an overview of Benefits21, along with a discussion of the shortcomings of current public and private benefit systems.
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Policy Does Administrative Burden Influence Public Support for Government Programs? Evidence from a Survey Experiment
It is hypothesized that if information about the existing screening mechanisms is highlighted and made salient, this will lead to greater approval of eligibility-based programs. The results of this study demonstrate the ways in which in which information regarding administrative burden can shape citizens’ support for eligibility-based programs.
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Human-Centered Design Advocacy in the Dark: A Pennsylvania Case Study on Advocating to Improve Technology that Drives Eligibility Decisions
Technology that automates different processes can save time for caseworkers and constituents, but it can also significantly reduce the transparency of government operations. This paper describes how Pennsylvania advocates addressed the low rate of automated Medicaid renewals.
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Human-Centered Design Improving Customer Service in Health and Human Services Through Technology
This paper outlines common challenges agencies face while administering benefits and gives examples of how technology can streamline the process. It also discusses the importance of user-centered design, and the necessity of utilizing technology as part of a holistic strategy to implement public benefits.
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How Well Insured are Job Losers? Efficacy of the Public Safety Net
An extensive literature in economics documents large and persistent declines in earnings following involuntary job loss. Though Unemployment Insurance provides the largest buffer against lost income, due to the structure of the program, the neediest are less-well insured (in terms of dollars transferred and percentage of lost earnings replaced) compared to middle and higher income job losers. This has important implications in light of the historic number of job losses during the COVID-19 pandemic.