Trump Administration Pulls Cities’ Funding for Obamacare Enrollment
"There's a clear pattern of the administration trying to undermine and sabotage the Affordable Care Act,"
This month, the Trump administration ended contracts with two companies that helped people sign up for health insurance on the Obamacare marketplaces. The companies hired "navigators" in 18 cities to spread the word in the community -- at churches, libraries and sporting events -- and guide people through the often-complicated enrollment process.
"It takes multiple touches to get someone enrolled, and that requires human power," says
The two companies with terminated contracts only signed up 14,500 people for the individual market -- a fraction of a percent of the 9.2 million who enrolled overall -- but they reportedly sought out younger, healthier people. Health policy experts say getting more young people to sign up is key to bringing premiums down and stabilizing the market.
"When you take away funding for training and provisions for assistance, you're more likely to lose healthier people, and so you're working against the soundness of the markets," says Blumberg. "These are the people who won't move heaven and earth to get enrolled on their own."
The ACA is credited with helping the
In the last open enrollment period, 36 percent of enrollees were under the age of 35. The loss of more young people on the marketplaces, therefore, may exacerbate the existing problems.
A representative from
The 18 cities that will no longer have federal money for enrollment assistance are:
The move is sure to strike a nerve among the leaders of the impacted cities.
"Access to affordable health care should not be a political game of volleyball," wrote
Blumberg encourages other cities and states to fund their own navigator programs.
"It's a relatively cheap, but important, piece to stabilize the markets," she says.
The 2018 open enrollment season begins on
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