The Affordable Care Act Resources Round-Up

During his State of the Union speech this week, President Obama asked every American who knows someone without health insurance to help them get covered by March 31st, when open enrollment ends. You can shop for plans and sign up for coverage online at HealthCare.gov, by phone at 1-800-318-2596, by mail, or directly through an issuer, agent, or broker. You can also find in-person help in your community at findlocalhelp.healthcare.gov.

To help with enrolling in and using new health coverage, several great Affordable Care Act (ACA) resources have recently been released and are available to support people living with HIV/AIDS and those who serve them. (Please note: HIV.gov provides links to non-Federal resources in this post. These links do not constitute an endorsement of those resources.)

• Ryan White TARGET Center State ACA Enrollment ResourcesExit Disclaimer. The Ryan White TARGET Center’s collection of state-specific marketplace enrollment resources helps individuals living with HIV/AIDS and providers understand different ACA coverage options and enroll in plans. (Coming Soon: A Ryan White Affordable Care Enrollment (ACE) Technical Assistance CenterExit Disclaimer.)
• Consumer Fact Sheet: Using New Coverage to Access MedsExit Disclaimer. HIV Health Reform produced this fact sheet outlining five tips to help healthcare consumers access their HIV and other medications under their new health insurance plans.
• HIV/AIDS Care in a Changing Healthcare Landscape: The Effect of Healthcare Reform on Ryan White Programs and ADAPExit Disclaimer . Under the ACA, millions of people living with HIV/AIDS who were previously dependent on Ryan White programs—including the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP)—are now eligible for Medicaid or subsidies to purchase commercial health insurance. This HIV Health Reform publication discusses how this may impact continuity of care for people with HIV/AIDS and the role Ryan White programs may play in the future.
• HIV Medicine Association Resources for ProvidersExit Disclaimer. The HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) has developed several ACA resources targeted to HIV providers. “Open Enrollment: What Providers Need to KnowExit Disclaimer summarizes marketplace enrollment procedures so that providers can help answer their patients’ questions. “Strategies for HIV Medical Providers Contracting with Health InsurersExit Disclaimer describes HIV-related quality measures and how they are currently being used to monitor the delivery of HIV care by Federal programs. As individuals’ insurance status changes with implementation of the ACA, it will be critical to track quality measures across patient populations and public and private insurers to monitor access to high quality HIV care.
• Kaiser Family Foundation Issue Brief on the Impact of the ACA on People Living with HIVExit Disclaimer. As previously reported in this blog released a new issue brief on January 7, 2014, providing the first national estimates of the expected impact of the ACA’s coverage expansions on people living with HIV/AIDS. It is based on nationally representative data from the CDC’s Medical Monitoring Project. The Foundation also updated The Uninsured: An Interactive ToolExit Disclaimer to highlight people with HIV who are uninsured, why they are uninsured and how the ACA could impact them.

In addition to these important resources, you can learn more about how the ACA impacts people at risk for or living with HIV/AIDS by reading our fact sheet on the ACA and HIV/AIDS speaking about how implementation of the ACA is supporting efforts to improve HIV prevention, care, and treatment and achieve the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.

Also, read this blog post about the Greater Than AIDS “Obamacare and You” consumer web portal developed by the Kaiser Family Foundation to help people living with HIV/AIDS learn about their coverage options and how the ACA could affect their care and treatment.