Thursday, February 28, 2013

Financial Coaching and the Affordable Care Act


With certain parts of the Affordable Care Act guaranteed to have an impact on our clients’ finances, we thought it would be a good idea to give you a picture of what this might look like for the state of Texas, the Financial Coaching program, and our clients.

What does the Affordable Care Act do? With the passing of the ACA come multiple provisions that will have a direct impact on all Texans. On January 1st, 2014, there goes into effect an individual mandate, stating that all citizens must be covered by some sort of health insurance. This will happen nation-wide, as the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that the individual mandate was constitutional, serving the same function as a tax. This obviously cues a large shift in the state's health-care environment, since, as of 2013, over a quarter of all Texas residents do not have health insurance, giving Texas the highest rate of uninsured in the nation. To find out where Texas ranks on this and other indicators of financial security, follow this link to see the CFED’s assets and opportunity scorecard.

An optional clause of the ACA would then allow our state legislature the decision to accept or reject a plan to expand Medicaid coverage. This expansion would raise the income limits for pregnant women, infants, the “medically needy,” and low-income adults under age 65. If the state decides to accept expansion, nearly a million currently uninsured Texans will now fall within the boundaries of Medicaid. If they refuse the expansion, the entirety of our 6.2 million uninsured will be forced to either purchase a plan or pay a fine. As of right now, it appears that Texas will opt out of the Medicaid expansion proposal.

How will it affect our clients? Unfortunately, the combination of the individual mandate without Medicaid expansion will force many low-income Texas residents to take on the added expense of health insurance. Follow this link to see who will and will not need to purchase insurance. As you might expect, this leaves out a healthy (pun intended (but not very funny)) portion of our clients, primarily those who earn too much to qualify for health insurance through public assistance, but who still don’t earn enough to take on another bill. For these clients, the long-term benefits of having insurance will butt heads with their need to provide for day-to-day expenses. With the added burden of finding an affordable plan, many of these low-income individuals will find themselves at odds with an unfamiliar and complex subject that has the potential to strain their budgets.

What will we be able to do for them? The Financial Coaching program will be finding ways to get involved with the health initiatives that are already in action at Foundation Communities. At our properties, we currently provide fitness and health programs for both children and adults, as well as screening residents for SNAP and Medicaid eligibility. We are hoping to reach beyond our properties and into the community through the Community Financial Center and the Financial Coaching program. We will do that in two ways:

  1. As you may know from experience, our clients often come in with crippling medical debt. We intend to provide further training to volunteers in regard to the rights, assistance, and strategies that our clients have in dealing with that debt. 
  2. We also intend to prevent such a problem's inception by helping clients navigate their options in the foreign territory of health insurance.  Foundation Communities will apply to be part of the Health Navigators program, which is part of the Affordable Care Act.  This means that Health Navigators will be available at the CFC and other locations to help clients access in-person assistance and information about the available types of coverage, the best value for their money, and enrolling in the appropriate program. 
By taking these steps, we can help dodge another obstacle on our clients' paths to financial stability. With your help, we hope to make this transition easy and informative for the people it hits the hardest!

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