With about four weeks from the start of a massive health-insurance enrollment campaign, a small army of paid “navigators” and volunteers remains unorganized, untrained and unclear about just how to accomplish the daunting mission of signing up Florida’s diverse population of uninsured consumers.
The slow start, coupled with a lack of cooperation from Florida officials, have raised concerns about prospects for reaching up to 3.5 million uninsured Floridians who, by all accounts, are mostly unaware of how to enroll in plans and the requirement that they do so by Jan. 1 when the Affordable Care Act takes full effect.
The task is enormous: one in five Floridians lacks insurance. Republican opposition to “Obamacare” prompted state leaders to refuse to create a state-run online marketplace for buying insurance, leaving the task to Uncle Sam. And Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi complained last week that the program has insufficient safeguards to protect consumers’ personal information.
In Central Florida, several local agencies have begun to receive a part of the $8 billion grant monies Florida will get, to train “navigators,” help build awareness of Obamacare, and enroll mostly low-income uninsured Floridians, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Primary Care Access Network, which has several clinics throughout Central Florida, has received $590,000 to train and equip “navigators” while Florida CHAIN will utilize its $125,000 to advertise, coordinate and carry out enrollment fairs in Central Florida and eight other regions of the state, the paper also reported.
Enrollment fairs will be held in the area to reach residents of Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Lake counties.
