With the upcoming enrollment for California's health exchange expected to be half as long and twice as hard, officials are looking to improve on call wait times, outreach to diverse communities, and persuading the remaining uninsured to sign up.
In California, Certified Enrollment Counselors fill a role under the Affordable Care Act similar to the one that’s often described as a “navigator” on a national level. But under Covered California, CECs and navigators are not the same thing.
GOP leaders say opposition to Obamacare is their No. 1 campaign issue for the midterm election. At the same time, a growing number of Republican states now embrace a major provision of the law — expanding Medicaid, government-funded health benefits for the poor.
The White House has set aside more than a quarter of a billion dollars nationally to pay navigators who can give people face-to-face help — in buying coverage and in calculating subsidies to make it more affordable. Colorado has almost $24 per person to spend on outreach.
About one in four Texans lack health coverage, including one in three Hispanics in the state. If a significant portion of the 6.1 million uninsured here don’t or can’t enroll, national targets could be missed, the new health insurance exchanges could falter and insurance rates could spike.
