A nonprofit group called Enroll America is planning a state by state effort to bring people’s attention to the expanded availability of health insurance coverage. They are working on putting procedures in place that will help simplify the enrollment process, which will help more people sign up for health insurance.
A report that compiled the information that people responded with in the 2010 Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey found that 60% of the people who became uninsured during the recession were unable to find a replacement health insurance plan that they could afford to purchase.
It also found that 35% of the uninsured were turned down for coverage, (either by private or public health insurers). This puts the total number of Americans who lack health insurance at over 50 million people.
A law that was signed by President Obama in 2010 requires most Americans to purchase health insurance in 2014. The same law bans insurance companies from denying health insurance coverage to people who are sick. Another part of this law includes subsidies, (of hundreds of millions of dollars), that will help people who are low-income, or middle-income, to be able to afford the purchase of health insurance.
One of the biggest challenges that must be solved is to discover a way to actually get Americans to sign up for health insurance in 2014. The sheer number of people that will need to be signed up is daunting. Many people do not understand much of anything at all about the Affordable Care Act, which doesn’t help this process. Other people simply are unaware that there are insurance options that they could very well be eligible for already in place.
A group called Enroll America has stepped up to help meet that challenge. The group is planning out a state by state effort to publicize the expanded availability of health insurance coverage. The group is also working with the leaders in individual states to put in place procedures that will simplify the health insurance process.
Blue Shield of California is one of Enroll America’s leading members. Families USA, who is an influential consumer group, has helped by reaching out to the leaders of the health care industry. Right now, 42 organizations have signed on with the effort that is being made by Enroll America.
Some of these organizations are: Aetna, Express Scripts, Teva Pharmaceuticals, AARP, the Catholic Health Association of the United States, Kaiser Permanente, the American Nurses Association, and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
Enroll America has raised over $6 million so far. It comes from different sources. $1.5 million came from the insurance industry, $2.5 million from the pharmaceutical industry, $1.3 million from foundations, and $825,000 from hospitals. It is worth noting that the insurance and pharmaceutical industries stand to gain a profit if more people sign up for health insurance.
Image by Ben Babcock on Flickr