Almost three million individuals eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid (dual eligibles) are enrolled in Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs) and that enrollment is expected to rapidly rise. An increasing number of states are focusing on D-SNPs as a primary vehicle for integrating care and improving coordination of services for their dual eligible populations. Yet many advocates know little about what D-SNPs are, what makes them unique, and how they operate.
A Justice in Aging issue brief, D-SNPs: What Advocates Need to Know, provides advocates with basic information about D-SNPs, their structure, and how they are regulated. It also identifies specific areas where advocates can engage with their states to ensure that D-SNPs work effectively to coordinate care and benefits for dual eligibles, including strategies for centering equity from the outset in the design of D-SNPs. It looks particularly at the contracting authority of state Medicaid programs and options to design D-SNP enrollment processes and benefit structure, as well as strengthen oversight, so that D-SNPs can better meet the needs of their dual eligible members.
