The Arc's Holiday Wish Program helps individuals and families have a Happy Holiday. Click on the picture and download the wish book. Adopt an individual and fulfill their holiday wish. Have a Happy and a Merry!

The Arc is proud to be part of the Project Search team. The Arc provides the in-program Job Coaching and post-graduate Job Development services for the students placed at Holy Name Medical Center.

The Arc works in partnership with Bergen County Special Services School District, Bergen County Project SEARCH and the Bergen County Workforce Development Board to deliver Project Search at Holy Name.  Here the students are placed full time for their last year of school.  They have the opportunity for internships in a variety of work settings within the hospital where they learn job skills toward future employment opportunities.  Eight to twelve students participate annually.  In addition to the job coaches there is also a certified teacher as part of the program. Students learn about community resources, transportation, benefits management and transition to adult services in addition to their employment and academic training, so they are fully prepared to enter the world of work on graduation. The Arc assists each graduate to locate a job, update their resume, interview and eventually be hired and receive any needed coaching post program so that their employment is successful.

MEDICAID RENEWAL

Following the expiration of special federal Medicaid rules that were in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, NJ FamilyCare is required to initiate renewals for all members between April 2023 and March 2024. These renewals will confirm whether members continue to meet program requirements,and are eligible to remain enrolled in Medicaid coverage. If not, they may be eligible for continued coverage through employer-sponsored insurance, Medicare or GetCoveredNJ, the statewide health insurance marketplace.

NJ FamilyCare restarted Medicaid member eligibility processes in April for approximately 1/12th of our enrollees. Each month of the unwinding year, we will be reaching out to another 1/12th of our members to renew. Members should continue watching out for mail from NJ FamilyCare and should return their renewal packets as soon as possible, even if overdue.

In anticipation of this work, NJ FamilyCare has improved systems, expanded automated renewal, and deployed new outreach strategies to raise awareness.

Like many other states, though, we are finding that too high a percentage of members in early renewal groups have not yet responded in any way to their renewal package, indicating that they may not have seen or understood the mail that was sent to them. Due to these national trends, CMS is allowing states the option of delaying disenrollment under certain conditions.

To ensure that we are serving early renewal cohorts the best way possible, the Department of Human Services is enacting a 30-day eligibility extension to members who never responded and would have had their coverage terminated at the end of June. This gives us additional time to continue to reach out to individual households and raise awareness in the community through County Boards of Social Services, Managed Care Organizations, Regional Health Hubs, and other important partners.

The Department also anticipates providing a single 30-day extension to each new renewal group in at least the first three months of the unwinding year. This will give us time to monitor and improve our outreach strategy, to ensure that we are making every effort to connect with members who never responded, and to evaluate the benefit of the extended deadlines.

This is a statewide effort and your organization can assist! Our website StayCoveredNJ includes videos, multi-lingual posters, and other resources to help get the word out. We also ask our community partners to continue to emphasize the importance of urgent response to any mail from NJ FamilyCare or the County Board of Social Services.

 

The Marriage Penalty

Self-Advocate Diana Stolfo continues her tireless work to eliminate the marriage penalty. Diana and her fiancé Matt met at The Arc's CHILD Center when they were just infants. They want to marry but cannot because they will lose vital benefits. For Diana and Matt and others with all types of disabilities marriage can mean losing their care, their home and not having enough money to repair their wheelchair. H.R.6405 - the Marriage Equality for Disabled Adults Act would eliminate some of these barriers.  Diana tells her story in the first video and couples from around NJ gather for a commitment ceremony to shine a light on the issue in the second video.

Check out The Arc's Video