8/9/2023 0 Comments Consumers checkbook seattleAn enrollment assister in Montana, for example, can post a question she believes is unique to Montana, and another assister from Alabama may chime in with the same issue. Members can post questions for the online community and in real time get an answer on how to deal with whatever challenging situation they may be confronted with at the time. “It is focused on the nonprofit enrollment assister,” she explained. This network is only for assisters and health policy experts, said Taylor, and is not open to agents, brokers, insurance carriers, or state or federal policy makers. This network, which is co-managed by the National Health Law Program, has more than 4,400 members from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The most successful and by Taylor's estimation the most popular resource that Community Catalyst provides to the assister community program is an online, password-protected resource called In the Loop. “They need to have a varying skill set that the average everyday person may not possess.” “This is a unique individual that we are talking about here,” said Taylor. Assisters also develop referral networks for their clients. She said the best assisters function in some respects like a community organizer in that they are out in the community, conducting face-to-face forums, engaging community organizations and businesses, passing out flyers, and working to get the word out to the uninsured in the community. It is not necessary, but a testament to the complexity of the enrollment circumstances that assisters face with individual consumers, Taylor said.Īccording to Taylor, assisters need to be personable individuals so that consumers feel comfortable sharing personal information related to their finances and health status. Most assisters do not have legal expertise. “They almost have to have legal expertise,” said Taylor. For the purposes of this presentation, Taylor referred to all of these as enrollment assisters, and characterized them as individuals who need to have a good understanding of how to conduct policy analysis so they can explain the different regulations, the tax implications, and the ways in which the marketplace and the ACA as a whole impacts a consumer. In addition, federally qualified health centers also have enrollment assisters on staff. They are staffed by different types of enrollment assisters: navigators, in-person assisters, and certified application counselors, Taylor explained. Community Catalyst also supports health system transformations and provides support to health insurance enrollment assisters.Įnrollment assistance programs exist in every state. The organization works in more than 40 states, with a primary focus on health issue campaigns, such as access to dental care, preventing substance abuse, and hospital community health benefit programs. The organization supports consumer advocacy networks that impact state and federal health care policy and ensures consumers have a seat at the table as health care decisions are made. Bernard Rosof moderated an open discussion among the workshop participants after the presentations.Ĭommunity Catalyst, explained Taylor, is a national nonprofit advocacy organization that works with national, state, and local consumer organizations, policy makers, and foundations to build consumer and community leadership to improve the health care system. The final panelist, Renée Bougard, a project scientist in the National Network Coordinating Office at the National Library of Medicine, spoke about the important role that libraries and librarians can play in providing understandable information of consumers on health and health insurance. Amy Cueva, co-founder and chief experience officer of Mad*Pow, reviewed the user-centered design approach her team uses to design readable medical bills and other materials for consumers. Robert Krughoff, president of Consumers' Checkbook's Center for the Study of Services, spoke about the tools his organization developed for comparing health plan information. Erin Hemlin, national director of training and consumer education at Young Invincibles, discussed the successful strategies her program uses to reach the young and healthy. Dara Taylor, director of Community Catalyst's Expanding Coverage through Consumer Assistance Program, described a successful approach for supporting navigators. The workshop's second panel session featured five presentations describing the approaches taken to address various pieces of health insurance literacy.
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