The NY State of Health’s (NYSOH) 2016 Open Enrollment Report shows that increased efforts to reach Limited English Proficient populations are making progress. This year, 20 percent of NYSOH enrollees indicated a language other than English as their preferred language compared to 18 percent in 2015. This increase is an important reflection of the diversity of our state.

To encourage outreach, NYSOH made consumer education materials available in 23 languages other than English, including five additional languages that were not available in 2015: Burmese, Karen, Somali, Swahili, and Tigrinya. NYSOH’s Customer Service Center also provided assistance to consumers in 93 languages other than English with an average of 20 percent of all calls to the Customer Service Center each month were answered in a language other than English compared to only 14 percent in 2015. Additionally, Navigators provided assistance in 37 languages other than English.

Gaps in information remain about New York’s diverse immigrant communities and their experiences enrolling in coverage through the NYSOH. Although this year’s Open Enrollment Report provides great information about enrollment for seven languages: Chinese, English, French, Haitian Creole, Italian, Korean, Spanish, and Russian, the report does not provide insight into whether callers in additional languages were able to enroll after reaching the call center. The NYSOH Navigator program funds enrollment but not outreach activities. Last year, HCFANY urged the State to provide dedicated outreach funding to small community-based organizations that best know difficult to reach immigrant rural populations.