Late last week, President Joe Biden issued an executive order directing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to expand access to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and strengthen the Medicaid program.

The executive order follows President Biden's declaration on the campaign trail that strengthening the ACA would be one of his administration's top priorities. The executive order is expected to be the first in a series of actions the Biden Administration will take in the coming weeks to strengthen the ACA.

As a result of President Biden's executive order, HHS announced that it will establish a broad Special Enrollment Period (SEP) for the ACA exchanges and Healthcare.gov. This new SEP is scheduled to begin on Monday, Feb. 15 and will run for three months.

As part of the announcement, HHS also committed to spending $50 million on marketing and outreach for the SEP. This means that the navigators created by former President Barack Obama's health care law are likely to see a significant boost in their budget in the coming weeks.

As the Biden Administration continues to announce new healthcare policies, the Big “I" will continue to provide its members with updates through the News & Views e-newsletter.

Wyatt Stewart is Big “I" assistant vice president of federal government affairs.