Outreach and Enrollment

November 1, 2017 marked the first day of the fifth open enrollment period. On October 1, 2013, the most sweeping provisions of the ACA went live as the health insurance Marketplaces began offering health coverage in all 50 states. Since then about 22 million Americans have gained health coverage, many for the first time. Now, the uninsured rate has reached a record low of 8.8 percent. This has been accomplished in large part due to the effective outreach and enrollment strategies conducted by consumer health advocates and enrollment assisters across the country.

Through our outreach and enrollment work, Community Catalyst supports a national network of state and locally-based consumer health advocates in developing and implementing outreach, education, and enrollment campaigns to inform consumers of their health coverage options. We also help to coordinate outreach efforts and encourage collaboration at both the national level and among our state and local partners. We accomplish this by providing communications support in this fast-paced environment including messaging guidance and talking points. In addition, we hold learning community calls and webinars focused on various topics such as message development and health insurance literacy. We provide technical assistance to in-person health coverage enrollment assisters on outreach and enrollment best practices. We compile and share state partner-created outreach and enrollment materials to ensure best practices are being highlighted. Finally, we help advocates and assisters to understand how health policy changes at the national level affect their work and the consumers they serve.

Community Catalyst outreach, education and enrollment related projects include:

In the Loop

Community Catalyst hosts In the Loop, a joint project with the National Health Law Program that supports enrollment assisters across the country through an online community. Members of the community communicate with other enrollment assisters across the country to share best practices, successes and lessons learned. They are able to ask questions and hear how other enrollment assisters have overcome similar challenges, share knowledge and exchange information

Open Enrollment Outreach, Awareness and Education Initiative

Community Catalyst serves as the national coordinating organization for an effort to spread awareness about the fifth open enrollment period and special enrollment period.Through this project, we are creating plain-language consumer-facing materials advertising the open enrollment period and special enrollment period. Materials emphasize key messages around financial assistance, in-person help and the shortened open enrollment period. Materials are also tailored to target key populations who may be eligible for marketplace coverage including young adults, immigrant communities, persons of color and persons who identify as LGBTQ. Materials are in various languages including English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tongan and Marshallese. You can find materials here!

We are partnering with national organizations to disseminate our materials and raise awareness.

Some of our national partners include:

• American Association on Health and Disability

• American Library Association

• Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum

• Black Women’s Health Imperative

• Feeding America

• National Urban League

• National Association of Community Health Centers

• Out2Enroll

• Raising Women’s Voices

• UnidosUS

Expanding Coverage through Consumer Assistance Program

The Expanding Coverage through Consumer Assistance Program (ECTCA) is part of the Missouri Foundation of Health’s Expanding Coverage Initiative, working to reduce the number of uninsured people in Missouri to less than 5 percent in five years. Community Catalyst’s St. Louis, MO office provides technical assistance to the 15 ECTCA grantees, who are members of the Cover Missouri Coalition. Community Catalyst staff ensures that grantees are compliant with federal and state Certified Application Counselor trainings and certifications, manages a learning community for cross sharing of information, and provides guidance on policy, outreach and mobilization of consumers.

You can contact Dara Taylor, Director of Consumer Assistance at Community Catalyst if you have questions or would like more information.