HEALTH INSURANCE Little help from Trump as millions lose coverage

WASHINGTON — As millions of people lose jobs in the coronavirus outbreak, jeopardizing their health benefits, the Trump administration and many states are doing little if anything to connect Americans with other insurance coverage.

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department hasn’t launched any special effort to publicize the availability of Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program or health plans being sold on marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act.

And federal officials haven’t made any substantial new commitment of money for outreach or to help people enroll in coverage.

In California and 11 other states that operate their own insurance marketplaces, state governments have created special enrollment periods to give people more time to enroll in health coverage during the pandemic.

But patient advocates around the country say many state governments have been largely silent, as well, leaving nonprofit groups, health clinics that serve poor patients and others scrambling to get the word out to people losing health insurance in the outbreak.

In Texas, which already has the nation’s highest uninsured rate and is now suffering one of the worst outbreaks, advocates are becoming increasingly concerned that growing numbers of people are falling through the cracks.

The Trump administration has taken a different approach to the safety net, calling repeatedly in White House budgets for large cuts to Medicaid and backing legal and legislative efforts to eliminate the Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare.