Fiscal Note
Account strings:
32101-51110-0000 Permanent Salaries ($50,000)
32309-54820-0000 Community Agency Contracts $50,000
Title
BOH Resolution 32019-07 Authorizing the noncompetitive purchase of more than $25,000 in services from Covering Wisconsin (CWI) Health Insurance Navigators and Authorization of the Corresponding Budget Transfer to Support these Services
Body
In 2017 and 2018, the Board of Health for Madison and Dane County, the City of Madison Common Council, and the Dane County Board of Supervisors agreed to provide support to Covering Wisconsin (CWI) to assure the continuation of federal marketplace (ACA insurance) and Medicaid/BadgerCare Navigator enrollment support to Dane County residents.
CWI, based within the University of Wisconsin-Madison and affiliated with UW Extension, runs the state’s largest federally-certified and state-licensed Navigator agency. CWI connects residents with and promotes effective use of insurance coverage and other programs that support health. CWI’s work centers around three primary engagement areas: 1) health coverage outreach and enrollment assistance; 2) education on using health coverage to access care; and 3) promoting understanding and effective use of other programs that support health.
Navigators work with partners to promote enrollment in the Affordable Care Act (ACA)/Obamacare plans and in Medicaid/BadgerCare. Beyond the services provided by fee based agents and brokers, Navigators fill an essential role in meeting the diverse needs of lower-income consumers. Navigators enroll consumers in Medicaid along with Marketplace plans in a single appointment and location. This can assure that the whole family gets appropriate coverage when a parent qualifies for Marketplace insurance coverage and a child qualifies for Medicaid. Navigators handle complex cases, spending as much time as needed with a single case and providing post-enrollment assistance. Navigators provide Spanish-language and bi-cultural services and locate themselves in community-based locations throughout the service area.
CWI has three federally-certified, state-licensed bi-lingual and bi-cultural Marketplace Insurance Navigators working at numerous locations in Dane County throughout the year to support our residents in connecting to health insurance and other health programs that improve health. In 2018 there were five bi-lingual, bi-cultural navigators working during Open Enrollment. CWI maintains enrollment services at six community-based locations in Dane County, and conducts enrollment events at libraries and other sites. In the six-month period from October 1, 2018 through March 30, 2019, CWI provided individual consultations with 1,268 Dane County consumers and enrolled 584 in Marketplace coverage and 358 in Medicaid coverage.
The ACA 2018 open enrollment period was 6 weeks long and the funding provided by PHMDC allowed CWI to provide support for open enrollment efforts in Dane County at a higher level than during the same period in 2017. Nationally, the shortened open enrollment timeframe and reduced federal promotion of coverage options and opportunities appeared to contribute to a decrease in consumer sign-ups. Wisconsin saw a reduction of 7% in health insurance enrollments from 2017 to 2018, however the decline in Dane County was much smaller: only 3.9%.
The intergovernmental agreement (IGA) that created Public Health-Madison and Dane County gives the Board of Health for Madison and Dane County the authority to make budget transfers of up to $50,000 (IGA, Section VIII, Paragraph G). This budget transfer requires a ¾ vote of Board of Health members present and voting.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Health for Madison and Dane County authorizes the transfer of $50,000 from permanent salaries to community agency contracts to enter into a noncompetitive contract with The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System on behalf of the University of Wisconsin-Madison to provide a total of $50,000 for Covering Wisconsin navigator activities that will take place between September 13, 2019 and September 12, 2020.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the funding authorized by this Resolution for Covering Wisconsin will be contingent on certain Medicaid matching funds being available to Covering Wisconsin and the continuation of the Affordable Care Act Insurance Marketplace with such contingencies to be verified by the Director of Public Health; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the payment to Covering Wisconsin will be made, with an initial payment in October 2019, and subsequent payments in January 2020 and September 2020 after submission of reports containing the data elements described in the scope of service.
Submitted by: Janel Heinrich
Introduced: 6/12/2019
Action: