State gets $750K grant for marketing expanded MaineCare, ACA market
Maine will receive $750,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to fund marketing, consumer education and enrollment assistance for residents seeking Medicaid coverage or other health insurance under the federal Affordable Care Act.
The grant will support a campaign over the next year encouraging Mainers to sign up for recently expanded Medicaid benefits or other affordable health plans via the ACA online marketplace, according to a news release last week from Gov. Janet Mills and the Maine Health Access Foundation.
The money, awarded through a competitive application process, will also go toward research into Maine’s Medicaid-eligible population, education for small businesses about employee coverage options, and the foundation’s ongoing public outreach about ACA coverage.
Marketing efforts will gear up next month, in advance of the upcoming open enrollment period for ACA plans, from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15.
Mills, in her first executive order, on Jan. 4 directed the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to implement the expanded federal Medicaid benefits approved by Maine voters in 2017, but repeatedly blocked by Gov. Paul LePage during his final year in office.
Mills' order made over 37,000 residents eligible for Medicaid, known in the state as MaineCare.
Medicaid is the joint federal-state program that assists low-income individuals and families in paying for health care.
“This grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will support outreach out to more Maine people to help them better understand their health insurance options and sign up for the coverage they need to live healthy lives and contribute to the growth of our state,” Mills said in the release.
The grant comes after the administration of President Donald Trump has slashed federal support for ACA information and enrollment assistance. During last year's open enrollment period, 5.5% fewer Mainers signed up for a plan through the ACA marketplace.
According to recent U.S. Census data, 27.5 million Americans lacked health insurance in 2018. They included 106,000 people in Maine, or 8% of the state’s population, which is in line with the national average.
In August, Mills proposed that the state take over some management functions of the ACA marketplace in Maine.
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