The Obama administration is ramping up its activities in anticipation of Obamacare’s 2016 open enrollment period, which starts in a few months.
The Obama administration announced Wednesday it will dole out $67 million over the next three years to 100 organizations under its Navigator program. The organizations are in the 34 states that use healthcare.gov to sign up for Obamacare.
Organizations must use the grant money to help people understand their coverage options and financial assistance available through healthcare.gov, according to a release from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The funding announcement comes as some groups are ramping up for the 2016 open enrollment period, which starts Nov. 1 and ends Jan. 31.
“Access to free in-person assistance remains critical to enrollment success, especially since more than 70 percent of the remaining uninsured think it’s important to talk to someone one-on-one when buying insurance,” said Enroll America, a nonprofit coalition focused on boosting Obamacare enrollment.
The Obama administration hasn’t announced its sign-up goal for 2016’s enrollment period.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office set a goal of 21 million in 2016, which is a massive increase from the agency’s 2015 estimate of 11 million.
The Obama administration’s goals have largely been more modest. Last year the goal was nine million, which the administration surpassed. After taking into account special enrollment periods, 11.7 million people signed up, and about 10 million have paid their premiums.
Some nonprofits are already making enrollment strategies for the 2016 period.
The nonprofit Young Invincibles will target the rest of the uninsured during the next enrollment period. The nonprofit, whose Virginia affiliate received Navigator funding, works on issues concerning millennials such as healthcare.
The uninsured rate has dropped by about one-third since Obamacare was implemented in 2013 to about 9 percent of the population in the first quarter of this year, according to administration data.
The group is trying to concentrate on harder-to-reach populations such as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals and legal immigrants, said Erin Hemlin, national training director for Young Invincibles.
Hemlin said the group also would seek to re-enroll as many young people as they can. She said about 28 percent of enrollees in the past two open enrollment periods on healthcare.gov are in the 18-to-34-year-old range.
Enrolling younger and presumably healthier people is a key part of Obamacare, as too many sick people will raise premiums.
The 2016 enrollment period will be the second year in which the law’s individual mandate will be in effect. Anyone who does not get health insurance must pay $325 or 2 percent of household income, whichever amount is higher.
