Tuesday, October 13, 2015
NYS Health Foundation Publishes Report on Expanding Health Insurance Access for New Yorkers
The Affordable Care Act presented an enormous opportunity to expand health care coverage to uninsured and underinsured New Yorkers, making coverage more affordable and more accessible than ever before. However, direct assistance and face-to-face support to help individuals complete health insurance enrollment applications would be needed to ensure the success of insurance expansion.
To address this issue, the New York State Health Foundation (NYSHealth) launched its statewide Enrollment Network initiative in time for the first open enrollment period beginning in October 2013. Comprising community-based organizations from across the State, the Enrollment Network serves all New Yorkers but specifically targets outreach and enrollment efforts to populations known to be uninsured at disproportionately high rates: low-wage workers; immigrants; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals.
With the third enrollment period poised to open this November 1st, a new report by NYSHealth highlights the lessons learned through the Enrollment Network's outreach and education efforts over the last two years. Since its launch, the Enrollment Network has enrolled thousands of New Yorkers in coverage. Specifically, the report examines the successes and challenges that Enrollment Network grantees have experienced as they sought to improve health insurance coverage for vulnerable populations across New York. The report also examines NYSHealth's strategy to enlist a diverse range of grantee organizations in the Enrollment Network, including those that had no prior health insurance enrollment experience but serve as trusted messengers to their communities...