Improving Access to Medicare and Medicaid Coverage
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) is working on improving how Medicare and Medicaid health care coverage works together to provide a better experience for people with disabilities and older adults. When you have Medicare and Medicaid, you can choose to get a Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan (D-SNP) for your Medicare coverage. D-SNPs are designed for people who have Medicaid.
We aim to:
- Gather input from people who use both Medicare and Medicaid coverage.
- Gather input from the partners and providers who help people access and use both Medicare and Medicaid coverage.
- Find ways to make it easier for people to access and use both Medicare and Medicaid coverage.
- Get a strategic plan for DHS to review and consider for future implementation.
For partners and providers
Visit the Improving Access to Medicare and Medicaid Coverage: Information for Partners and Providers page for details geared toward:
- Health insurance plans or providers
- SHIP counselors
- ADRC staff or Tribal ADRS
How this work will get done
1. Gathering input
We’re looking at Medicare and Medicaid coverage in Wisconsin and how well they work together to provide a better experience for people with disabilities and older adults. To gather input, we want to hear from:
- People who have both Medicare and Medicaid
- Health insurance plans
- Health care providers
- State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) counselors
- Aging and disability resource centers (ADRCs)
- Tribal aging and disability resource specialists (Tribal ADRS)
2. Planning for improvements
Once we understand how well Medicare and Medicaid health care coverage works for people in Wisconsin, we can find ways to improve this system. This means creating a plan to improve Medicare and Medicaid coverage, such as making it easier to:
- Find doctors who take your insurance
- Get the most out of your benefits
- Get help coordinating your health care
3. Making improvements
DHS will review and consider the strategic plan from step 2, and make changes to Medicare and Medicaid coverage to provide a better experience for people with disabilities and older adults.
Stay up to date
- Email DHSDMSHMO@dhs.wi.gov with questions.
- Check this page regularly for updates.
Funding for this work
DHS received support from Arnold Ventures to work with ATI Advisory and Speire Healthcare Strategies, our technical assistance partners, to complete this improvement work.