The Affordable Care Act (ACA) envisions a more modern approach to determining eligibility for health insurance programs. For instance, income eligibility might be determined by electronic data matches with tax records instead of requiring applicants to furnish pay stubs. If successful, this change could minimize the paperwork burden on consumers, increase enrollment and retention, and produce administrative savings and reduce errors for states.

CHCF hosted a Sacramento briefing about data matching. Stan Dorn, senior fellow at the Urban Institute, presented the latest research to help policymakers identify when and how data matching can be used most effectively — both in the exchange (Covered California) and in Medi-Cal. State representatives also provided updates on California’s data matching policies and progress.

A video of the event is below, and the presentation slides are available under Document Downloads.

 
This briefing was part of a larger CHCF-sponsored Urban Institute project on data matching, which includes these publications:

• Administrative Renewal, Accuracy of Redetermination Outcomes, and Administrative Costs
• Access to Employer-Sponsored Insurance and Subsidy Eligibility in Health Benefits Exchanges: Two Data-Based Approaches
• Using Past Income Data to Verify Current Medicaid Eligibility
• Using SNAP Receipt to Establish, Verify, and Renew Medicaid