Navigators and assisters helped a lot of consumers — and were "key" to 8 million signups — during the first open enrollment period under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, according to a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation. But the navigator program wasn't without its challenges.
More than 4,400 assister programs nationwide — employing more than 28,000 full-time-equivalent staff and volunteers — helped an estimated 10.6 million people during open enrollment, the report said. On average, each assister helped more than 370 people during the six-month open enrollment period that ran from Oct. 1 through March 31.
Still, about 12 percent of assister programs said consumer demand for their help far outpaced their capacity throughout enrollment. The problem worsened during the late surge at the end of March, which marked the end of open enrollment, as 24 percent of navigators said they couldn't meet demands.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
