Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Enroll America, A Group Dedicated To Promoting Health Law Sign Ups, To Cut 100 Jobs
The main national organization promoting Obamacare enrollment is cutting 100 jobs amid a major retrenchment as key funders turn to other health care priorities. It’s the beginning of the end for Enroll America, which was set up by liberal advocates of the Affordable Care Act to run a sophisticated, political-style campaign to persuade Americans to get covered. The group, led by veterans of President Barack Obama’s campaigns and administration, was never intended to last forever, but a precipitous drop in funding forced it to scale back to half of its peak size after only two seasons of Obamacare sign-up. That’s a far more rapid throttling back than its founders anticipated. (Norman, 4/9)
Meanwhile, both tax season and special enrollment periods are starting to wind down -
One week before the 2014 tax deadline, Affordable Care Act advocates and tax preparers in Charlotte are making a push to get people covered for 2015. The act, which offered subsidized health insurance for the first time last year, has complicated tax filing. Many people who were uninsured for all or part of 2014 owe a penalty, but they can sign up now to get covered and reduce the 2015 penalty. (Helms, 4/8)
