CMS Direct Service Workforce Demonstration Grants: Overview and Discussion of Health Coverage Interventions

In 2003 CMS launched the Demonstration to Improve the Direct Service Community Workforce by awarding five grants and five more in 2004. Six grantees are using funds to make health care coverage more affordable/accessible. Interventions vary in strategy but each takes three approaches: subsidizing employer-based coverage, offering arrangements that combine basic insurance and personal accounts, or outreach to enroll DSWs in public private partnerships. This report reviews the lessons learned.