Photo courtesy of the Associated Press

A slow trickle of information is now starting to leak from the State on its plans to reach out to the public and educate them on the forthcoming Health Benefit Exchange and the new insurance options that will be available.  Today’s Crain’s Health Pulse quoted Danielle Holahan, Deputy Director for the Exchange, saying that the Exchange will begin to reach out to Chambers of Commerce and other groups this month to start building awareness around open enrollment (which starts this October).

Healthcare.gov has also just launched a new service to send text or email alerts to folks to tell them about the new insurance options and benefits.  I’m not entirely sure what that will entail so I went ahead and signed up for both email and text alerts.  Nothing yet, other than a confirmation of subscription, but if something interesting comes out of it I will be sure to post!  To sign up for healthcare.gov updates yourself, click here.  

 

Implementation of New York’s health benefit Exchange is now well underway, and policymakers are estimating that over one million New Yorkers will enroll in some form of health insurance through the Exchange.  Yet, the vast majority of New Yorkers still don’t understand what the Exchange is or what it will do.  Many others have not even heard about it yet.

With the Exchange set to start accepting enrollment applications in October of this year, it is quickly becoming clear that the State is in dire need of a public engagement campaign.

What it boils down to is that there are currently around 2.8 million New Yorkers who are uninsured.  The Exchange is, above all, being created so that these folks will be able to find and enroll into quality, affordable health coverage.  But, how can the State policymakers who are designing and implementing the Exchange know that they are building a system that will work for New York’s uninsured, without actually asking them about it?

At the same time, in order the reach its goal of getting one milion New Yorkers enrolled through the Exchange, the State will have to find a way to get these one million New Yorkers informed about the Exchange, motivated to pursue coverage through it, and able to use the system.

That’s a lot to accomplish in just 8 months!

HCFANY has put together a short policy brief on this issue, with recommendations for State policymakers on how to get the public engaged and informed about the NYS Exchange.

Click here to read the HCFANY policy brief titled “Reaching One Million More New Yorkers: A Successfulc Enrollment Campaign for the Exchange.”