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Overlapping Eligibility and Enrollment: Human Services and Health Programs Under the Affordable Care Act

Publication Date

Prepared by:
Stan Dorn, Julia Isaacs, Sarah Minton, Erika Huber, Paul Johnson, Matthew Buettgens, and Laura Wheaton
The Urban Institute

Under Task Order: HHSP23337026T
Integrating Health and Human Services Programs and Reaching Eligible Individuals Under the Affordable Care Act

Prepared for:
Alana Landey and Carli Wulff
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, DHHS

This report presents information on overlaps in eligible and participating populations in various health and human services programs, and identifies three main human services programs – the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) – as having considerable overlap with health insurance programs and high potential for possible integration and coordination efforts in states that implement the Medicaid expansion. The paper’s appendix presents an analytic framework for possible data usage strategies across programs.

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Introduction

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care Act or ACA) extends health coverage to millions of uninsured Americans, primarily through newly created Health Insurance Marketplaces and expanded Medicaid eligibility. It also sets the stage for major changes to eligibility determination for both health and human services programs. This paper focuses on using data matches and the coordination and integration of enrollment and retention procedures to improve the efficiency and accuracy of eligibility determination and to increase participation by eligible individuals in health programs and uncapped human services programs.

Under the ACA, consumers can generally qualify for health coverage based on attestations made under penalty of perjury. However, when federal or state policy requires further verification, it must be based on data matches, if possible, including information in the records of human services programs. Only when data matches fail to verify eligibility can consumers be asked for documentation.

 Facing a potential surge in health coverage applications in 2013 and 2014, states that use data from human services programs to qualify multiple consumers for health coverage can trim their administrative workload while enrolling a large proportion of the newly eligible. At the same time, many people who have not previously received government assistance will seek health coverage. By connecting to this new stream of applicants for health coverage, programs that guarantee assistance to all eligible consumers, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and unemployment insurance (UI), could identify and enroll households who qualify but do not yet participate. In addition, information from health programs could simplify the work needed to qualify clients for human services programs that receive capped funding from the federal government and thus generally cannot serve all eligible people. For the latter programs, simplification efforts could reduce burdens for clients and lower the cost of eligibility determination, potentially letting some resources shift from administration to benefits. These programs include Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), housing subsidies, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).1

As a crucial step facilitating such data linkages, enhanced federal funding is available for information technology (IT) investments that improve eligibility determination for health programs. Full federal funding is available for state-run Marketplaces, and federal resources can pay 90 percent of the cost to modernize Medicaid eligibility systems. If such investments also benefit human services programs, normal cost-allocation rules are waived, so the latter programs are relieved of the need to share development expenses. This opportunity is time-limited, however. Federal funding for state Marketplace administration stops after December 31, 2014, and both the 90 percent Medicaid match and cost-allocation waiver end a year later.

To help state and federal officials who are working to realize the promise of the Affordable Care Act, this paper analyzes possible pairings of health and human services programs for data-based integration and coordination strategies. Researchers at the Urban Institute, working in consultation with federal project officers at the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), with input from members of a Technical Working Group, have put together this analysis to identify the human services programs with beneficiary populations that will overlap most significantly with health programs when the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented.

We use the term, “human services,” to include a number of programs—EITC, housing subsidies, LIHEAP, and UI—that are sometimes classified outside the boundaries of “human services.” We seek to distinguish the programs that provide health coverage from the programs that meet other basic needs of vulnerable or low-income populations.

Rather than rely on administrative data limited to program recipients, our tabulations come from microsimulation techniques that can estimate both recipients and people who qualify for assistance under specified program rules. We use two large microsimulation models: the Transfer Income Model, Version 3 (TRIM3 or TRIM), which is developed and maintained by the Urban Institute, thanks to primary funding from ASPE; and the Health Insurance Policy Simulation Model (HIPSM), also developed and maintained by the Urban Institute with funding from multiple sources.2 We use the resulting combined information to estimate the overlap in (a) populations who will be eligible under the Affordable Care Act for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and subsidies for Marketplace coverage, which are sometimes referred to collectively as “insurance affordability programs;” and (b) people who receive or qualify for the following human services programs: SNAP, TANF, housing subsidies, CCDF, LIHEAP, WIC, UI, and EITC, as well as the noncustodial parents who are potentially reached by child support enforcement programs. We distinguish between recipients and eligibles for all human services programs except UI and EITC, for which we estimate eligibility only. Our analysis is limited to populations under 65, because the ACA’s coverage expansion affects health coverage only for the non-elderly.

Both models use the 2011 Current Population Survey-Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS-ASEC), which describes household circumstances during calendar year 2010. HIPSM identifies the respondents who have an offer of employer-sponsored insurance defined as “affordable” by the ACA and are thus disqualified from Marketplace subsidies, imputing such estimates based on statistical matches with other sources of information. We import this information into TRIM and combine it with TRIM’s extensive program, demographic, and income information to identify which individuals will qualify for Marketplace subsidies, Medicaid, and CHIP under the Affordable Care Act as well as to estimate human services program eligibility and receipt. Both models take into account current federal and state eligibility rules as well as the new rules for health programs that will apply beginning in 2014 under the ACA. The tabulations are restricted to individuals who are citizens or lawfully present immigrants under age 65. Our estimates show the number of people who will receive or qualify for various combinations of health and human services programs during the average month.

Our paper investigates the possibilities for program integration and coordination in states that implement the Medicaid expansion. Accordingly, our microsimulation, which is national in scope, assumes that all states implement the Medicaid expansion to 138 percent3 of the federal poverty level (FPL). In states that do not expand Medicaid, the analysis would be very different. Among other things, the overlaps would be greatly affected by each state's particular pre-ACA eligibility rules for Medicaid. We do not undertake that analysis here.

We begin the paper by analyzing data showing how human services programs could benefit from linkages with insurance affordability programs. We then provide results suggesting how health programs could also benefit from linkages with human services programs. Appendices set out a framework for analyzing strategies that link programs to facilitate eligibility determination, enrollment, and retention (Appendix I); a program-by-program comparison of eligibility requirements and methods (Appendix II); a detailed description of our microsimulation methodology (Appendix III); additional microsimulation results (Appendix IV); and a list of experts consulted in the preparation of this report (Appendix V). This paper is part of a larger study— Integrating Health and Human Services Programs and Reaching Eligible Individuals Under the Affordable Care Act—with later stages that will build on the analysis presented here.

Overlaps with health programs that could help human services programs function more effectively

Data from health programs could help establish eligibility for human services programs

Most human services programs are capped. This means that serving new people may require displacing current clients. The expansion in health coverage contemplated by the Affordable Care Act can nevertheless help these programs more effectively and efficiently determine eligibility. Several years after the ACA has been implemented, numerous human services applicants and recipients may have had their circumstances evaluated by health coverage programs. If so, human services programs could borrow from this work that health programs have already done, allowing human services eligibility to be determined more efficiently than in the past. Ultimately, this could help both capped and uncapped human services programs alike.

We find that the vast majority of human services program participants will qualify for health coverage. If all states implement the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, Medicaid and CHIP eligibility will reach 97 percent of SNAP recipients, 85 percent of WIC families, 99 percent of TANF recipients, and 87 percent of LIHEAP recipients under age 65 (Figure 1). This suggests that, once the ACA’s expansions are fully implemented, human services programs may be able to expedite eligibility determination for numerous applicants and participants based on data from health programs.

Two limitations of this analysis are important to acknowledge. First, this information shows the potential reach of health programs. That is, we show the number of human services participants who will qualify for Medicaid, CHIP, and Marketplace subsidies if states expand Medicaid eligibility. Human services programs will not fully benefit from health programs until the latter have had time to ramp up enrollment among new eligibles.

Second, much of the verification that health programs will receive from a new federal data hub cannot be shared with human services programs.4 For the latter to benefit from health agencies’ findings, it will be important to confirm that health programs can share their final eligibility determinations—for example, that a particular person has been found to have income at a certain percentage of the FPL—even if they cannot provide human services programs with all the verification on which such determinations are sometimes based.

Figure 1. Among recipients of various human services benefits under age 65, the percentage who will qualify for health programs under the Affordable Care Act

Figure 1. Among recipients of various human services benefits under age 65, the percentage who will qualify for health programs under the Affordable Care Act

Source: TRIM3, HIPSM 2012. Notes: Assumes that all states expand Medicaid eligibility for adults to 138 percent FPL. Children’s eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP includes pre-ACA categories above 138 percent FPL and does not exclude ESI recipients. Estimates for children and adults include people with disabilities who receive Medicare. WIC and child care counts include spouses and dependents under age 19 who do not directly receive subsidies. Housing subsidies include public housing and rent vouchers. For more information about our methodology, see Appendix III.

Many eligible nonparticipants in uncapped human services programs will qualify for health coverage

Health programs offer the potential to provide additional help to uncapped human services programs—that is, programs that serve all who qualify, without funding caps—by enabling them to reach eligible nonparticipants. SNAP is an uncapped program that has made extraordinary strides in recent years, modernizing program administration to improve program participation, lower error rates, and increase efficiency.5 From 2002 to 2010, the percentage of eligible individuals receiving benefits rose from 54 percent to 75 percent.6 Nevertheless, in some states and demographic groups, many eligible households remain unserved. California’s SNAP program, for example, reaches only 55 percent of eligible people;7 and among childless adults and working families, only 67 and 65 percent of eligible individuals, respectively, receive aid.8

If all states expand Medicaid eligibility, 88 percent of people who qualify for but do not receive SNAP will be eligible for insurance affordability programs, including 80 percent who will qualify for Medicaid or CHIP (Figure 2). Health programs may be particularly useful in helping SNAP reach two groups with below-average participation levels: childless adults and people with incomes above poverty. Among members of these two groups, 85 percent and 79 percent, respectively, will qualify for ACA health coverage (Figure 3).

EITC, another uncapped program, reaches an estimated 75 percent of eligible taxpayers.9 Among taxpayers with children who qualify, 81 percent claim the credit, but only 56 percent of eligible taxpayers without children receive it.

Insurance affordability programs may be able to help EITC outreach campaigns reach such eligible non-claimants. Altogether, 86 percent of people under age 65 who are eligible for EITC will qualify for health programs if all states expand Medicaid, including 84 percent of EITC-eligible childless adults (Figure 4).

It is worth noting, in this context, that a particularly underserved group of EITC-eligible taxpayers consists of childless adults with incomes too low to claim the full credit—that is, those with earned income between $1 and $6,200 a year, or 56 percent FPL for a one-person household in 2012.10 Not only does the low credit amount for which they qualify reduce these adults’ incentive to claim it, they are less likely than other taxpayers to file for other reasons, such as to obtain a refund or to meet legal requirements for filing tax returns; in 2012, for example, one-person households were not required to file unless their gross income was at least $9,750. As a result, it is not surprising that only 46 percent of such adults claim EITC.11 Almost all of this highly underserved group will qualify for Medicaid under expansion.

In terms of the final uncapped human services program that we examine in our microsimulation, unemployment insurance (UI), health programs will reach 62 percent of eligible individuals (Figure 5)—a smaller proportion than for the programs discussed earlier, but still representing more than three in five people who potentially qualify. As with EITC, it is worth emphasizing that we estimate the prevalence of consumers eligible for health programs only among people who are eligible for UI, regardless of whether they participate.12 It is also important to note that the estimates we present reflect UI eligibility during calendar year 2010, when the country was experiencing a severe economic downturn. The profile of UI-eligible consumers could be quite different under more favorable economic conditions.

More broadly, these estimates show the prevalence of insurance affordability program eligibility among people who qualify for SNAP, EITC, and unemployment insurance. They thus suggest the potential that health coverage could offer in reaching eligible populations not served by these uncapped human services programs. But we do not yet know, among consumers who will newly qualify for Medicaid or Marketplace subsidies, how many will enroll. In particular, we do not know the extent to which health programs will successfully enroll the very groups that SNAP, EITC, and unemployment insurance have had particular difficulty reaching. Human services program administrators and advocates will need to track carefully the progress of health programs in enrolling these populations over the next few years.

Figure 2. Health program eligibility among all people under age 65 who qualify for but do not receive SNAP

Figure 2. Health program eligibility among all people under age 65 who qualify for but do not receive SNAP

Source: TRIM3, HIPSM 2012. Notes: Assumes that all states expand Medicaid eligibility for adults to 138 percent FPL. Children’s eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP includes pre-ACA categories above 138 percent FPL and does not exclude ESI recipients. Estimates for children and adults include people with disabilities who receive Medicare. For more information about our methodology, see Appendix III.

Figure 3. Health program eligibility among two groups of people under age 65 who qualify for but do not receive SNAP

Figure 3. Health program eligibility among two groups of people under age 65 who qualify for but do not receive SNAP

Source: TRIM3, HIPSM 2012. Notes: Assumes that all states expand Medicaid eligibility for adults to 138 percent FPL. Children’s eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP includes pre-ACA categories above 138 percent FPL and does not exclude ESI recipients. Estimates for children and adults include people with disabilities who receive Medicare. For more information about our methodology, see Appendix III.

Figure 4. Health program eligibility among various groups of EITC-eligible people

Figure 4. Health program eligibility among various groups of EITC-eligible people

Source: TRIM3, HIPSM 2012. Notes: Assumes that all states expand Medicaid eligibility for adults to 138 percent FPL. Children’s eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP includes pre-ACA categories above 138 percent FPL and does not exclude ESI recipients. Estimates for children and adults include people with disabilities who receive Medicare. For more information about our methodology, see Appendix III.

Figure 5. Health program eligibility among people who potentially qualify for unemployment insurance

Figure 5. Health program eligibility among people who potentially qualify for unemployment insurance

Source: TRIM3, HIPSM 2012. Notes: Assumes that all states expand Medicaid eligibility for adults to 138 percent FPL. Children’s eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP includes children’s pre-ACA categories above 138 percent and does not exclude ESI recipients. Estimates for children and adults include people with disabilities who receive Medicare. For more information about our methodology, see Appendix III.

Overlaps with human services programs that could help health programs function more effectively

Participation in human services programs could help establish eligibility for Medicaid

As noted earlier, a Medicaid applicant’s attestation of financial eligibility can be verified by data that are reasonably compatible with those attestations, including data showing the receipt of human services benefits.13 Moreover, when a Medicaid beneficiary’s coverage period is coming to an end, if reliable data demonstrate continuing eligibility, the beneficiary’s eligibility is renewed administratively.14 Such data matches can play an important role in determining eligibility for Medicaid, since financial eligibility is established whenever income is at or below 138 percent FPL, which can frequently be verified based on determinations already made by human services programs.15

Table 1 shows, for children, parents, and childless adults, the probability of eligibility for Medicaid that is established by receipt of various human services benefits. This information could help states determine when data matches with human services programs eliminate the need for documentation from Medicaid applicants or from beneficiaries up for renewal. For example, a LIHEAP recipient who is a child or adult has a 94 percent or 78 percent likelihood of Medicaid eligibility, respectively. A state could thus verify a Medicaid applicant’s attestation of financial eligibility through a data match establishing receipt of LIHEAP, whether such applicant is a child or adult. Eliminating the need for consumers to present and for states to evaluate paper documentation is likely to increase eligible consumers’ Medicaid participation levels, reduce administrative costs, and lower the risk of manual error in determining eligibility.

Verification based on human services receipt could streamline enrollment and retention for numerous Medicaid-eligible consumers. Among people who will qualify for Medicaid if all states expand eligibility:16

  • 49 percent receive SNAP;
  • 18 percent receive LIHEAP;
  • 17 percent either receive WIC or have a sibling or spouse who receives WIC;
  • 9 percent receive housing subsidies;
  • 6 percent receive TANF; and
  • 3 percent either receive child care subsidies or have a sibling or spouse who receives such subsidies.

Table 1. Likelihood of Medicaid eligibility for various recipients of human services benefits under age 65

  Children Adults Total
SNAP 98% 94% 96%
WIC 90% 67% 81%
TANF 100% 95% 99%
LIHEAP 94% 78% 86%
Child care subsidies 92% 75% 86%
Housing subsidies 96% 86% 91%

Source: TRIM3, 2012. Notes: Assumes that all states expand Medicaid eligibility for adults to 138 percent FPL. Medicaid eligibility categories are limited to MAGI-based eligibility up to 138 percent FPL, receipt of SSI, and children’s eligibility for Medicaid (whether funded through Title XIX or Title XXI of the Social Security Act) under their state’s pre-2014 rules. Estimates do not include people with disabilities who receive Medicare. Child care and WIC estimates include immediate family members of recipients. For more information about our methodology, see Appendix III.

Many consumers who will newly qualify for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act already participate in human services programs

A core objective of the Affordable Care Act’s health programs is maximizing enrollment of the eligible uninsured. To achieve this goal, the most important groups to reach are likely to be newly eligible consumers—Medicaid-eligible childless adults, Medicaid-eligible parents with incomes above their state’s pre-ACA thresholds, and people who qualify for newly created Marketplace subsidies.

Health programs could use human services programs to identify such consumers who have already been found to meet many requirements of Medicaid and Marketplace subsidies. Figure 6 indicates the relative size of these newly eligible populations among consumers who receive or qualify for various human services programs. To address variations among state pre-ACA eligibility limits, we use as a rough proxy for adults who will newly qualify for Medicaid the combination of: (a) childless adults, who are ineligible for Medicaid regardless of income in most states; and (b) parents with incomes above 63 percent FPL, the pre-ACA median income eligibility threshold for working parents.17

The estimates of Medicaid eligibility in this section thus differ from those in the previous section. The latter included, in addition to the childless adults and parents who are analyzed in this section, both children and the poorest eligible parents.18 Put differently, while the previous section encompassed all Medicaid-eligible consumers, this section focuses on those who are likely to be newly eligible in 2014.

Clearly, the most productive overall human services programs, in terms of their capacity to help enroll newly eligible populations, are EITC, SNAP, and LIHEAP. If all states expand Medicaid eligibility, these programs will reach 40 percent, 39 percent, and 15 percent of newly eligible Medicaid adults, respectively; they also serve 21 percent, 3 percent, and 5 percent of people who will qualify for Marketplace subsidies (Figure 6). SNAP could play a particularly significant role reaching newly eligible adults, since it serves substantially more such adults than any other human services program.

Of an estimated 26.9 million childless adults who would qualify for Medicaid under expansion, SNAP reaches 9.4 million, or 35 percent—significantly more than the 6.9 million who qualify for EITC, the human services program that reaches the second-highest number of childless adults eligible for expanded Medicaid coverage in 2014 (data not shown). That said, SNAP may soon serve many fewer childless adults. Typically, non-disabled adults who do not reside in a household that includes a child must work an average of 20 hours per week or be limited to 3 months of SNAP eligibility in each 36-month period that they are not working. However, states may apply to waive this requirement in areas where there is high unemployment or a lack of jobs. Forty-six states have approved waivers of this special work requirement through September 30, 2013, the end of federal fiscal year 2013.19 It is not clear how broadly this exemption will continue after then, because of changing economic conditions, state decisions to opt out of the exemption, and possible changes to the SNAP statute.

In addition, child support enforcement programs work with noncustodial parents, many of whom will qualify for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act. If all states expand eligibility, noncustodial parents will include an estimated 8 percent of adults who will be newly eligible for Medicaid (measured using the proxy measure described above) and 6 percent of people who will qualify for Marketplace subsidies (Figure 6). Child support enforcement programs could thus make an important contribution to reaching the newly eligible uninsured.20

HHS’ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have authorized states to use SNAP records to enroll Medicaid-eligible consumers into coverage.21 In states that take such steps, Figure 7 shows the extent to which other human services programs could reach the remaining groups who will be newly eligible for health coverage. Not surprisingly, the most useful programs in reaching non-SNAP recipients who will be newly eligible Medicaid adults or who will qualify for Marketplace subsidies are likely to be EITC and LIHEAP, followed by programs that serve noncustodial parents.

Figures 6 and 7 suggest that unemployment insurance may also be helpful in reaching these populations. However, that may be a result of the time period from which the modeling results were taken. As explained earlier, our estimates are based on the 2011 CPS-ASEC, which reflects conditions during the 2010 economic downturn. It is not clear whether, under more favorable economic conditions, unemployment insurance will continue to reach as many people who will qualify for Medicaid, CHIP, or Marketplace subsidies.