With one month to go, organizations hiring dozens of navigators to help Oklahomans learn about the new federal health insurance plans are scrambling to get ready.
While there's little evidence of the statewide program in the works now, officials with two organizations receiving federal grants say they are confident the navigators will be ready by Oct. 1. That's when citizens can begin enrolling in health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act.
Brenda Needham, executive director of the Little Dixie Action Agency, said agency officials were surprised to learn they had won one of three federal grants to train navigators in Oklahoma. Navigators will be trained to help citizens shop for and enroll in health insurance plans, including how to use websites where they can compare plans, called exchanges.
"It's still a huge learning curve for us," Needham said. "We just really didn't suspect we would get this at all, and lo and behold we did. Now we have to make it work, but we are used to this."
In fact, the three grant recipients found out at the same time the federal government announced the awards in a press release to the media.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Aug. 15 it was awarding $67 million nationally for navigator training, including $1.6 million to three groups in the state.
Little Dixie Action Agency received $580,000. The non-profit, which has a budget nearing $25 million, coordinates a variety of anti-poverty programs.
Needham said the navigators will receive 20 hours of online training about the law and will be tested on their knowledge before being awarded a certificate.
Needham said the agency plans to hire a state coordinator and will work with 14 other community action agencies to hire navigators. She said the agency will focus on hiring navigators in southeast Oklahoma as well as communities including Lawton, Chickasha, Stigler and Jay.
Judy Grant, interim executive director of the Oklahoma Primary Care Association, said the agency is also ramping up quickly as the opening enrollment date approaches. The association received $860,000 in grant funds to hire navigators.
"We know that there is a daunting task ahead of us," Grant said. "I think in the first few weeks we are going to learn a lot of lessons."
The association, based in Oklahoma City, is funded by the federal government and supports operations of 18 community health centers statewide. It expects to oversee the hiring and training of 80 to 100 navigators in 35 counties.
Grant said due to the political fight over the law, "there's been a lot of misinformation."
"It's going to be a challenge to show people the value in getting an affordable health insurance option that protects them from the potential of financial ruin if something did happen to them," she said.
More than 695,000 Oklahomans lack health insurance. The state ranks behind only four others in the number of uninsured, according to figures released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau.
It is unclear how many navigators will be working in the Tulsa area and where they will be. No list of navigator locations has been released.
In July, the federal government announced $1.7 million in grants to 18 Oklahoma clinics. Those grants were not part of the navigator program, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Those grant funds will pay for 38 employees at the clinics to help citizens enroll and determine eligibility for a variety of health programs, including plans offered in the insurance exchange.
Two community health organizations in Tulsa - Morton Comprehensive Health and Community Health Connection Inc. - received grants to hire and train enrollment workers as part of that grant program.
Meanwhile, the federal agency implementing the law continues to say it will be ready on Oct. 1. Behind the scenes, officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are working overtime.
The enrollment period continues for six months and coverage begins Jan. 1. Four companies are expected to offer coverage in Oklahoma, and four types of plans will be available through the exchange.
Individuals making between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible for subsidies to buy insurance as part of the law.
John Giles, director of health planning and grants for the Oklahoma State Department of Health, said he has taken part in conference calls and a recent meeting during which CMS officials talked about their progress.
"They are working weekends and nights and doing everything they can to get the information out and get the resources available," he said.
Because the state refused to create its own health insurance exchange, state officials have no role in hiring navigators or in carrying out other parts of the federal law. Oklahoma is one of 27 states that will have a federally created exchange.
Giles said the Health Department is helping its employees and others prepare to answer questions from the public.
"As a state agency, we have started the process of talking to sister agencies about this. We need to have a consistent communication plan," Giles said.
Several state officials have been highly critical of the law.
Attorney General Scott Pruitt is suing the federal government, challenging a difference between the law's language and rules implementing it.
Gov. Mary Fallin rejected an expansion of Medicaid offered as part of the law. That action means thousands of Oklahomans will fall into a gap between Medicaid and the law's subsidies.
Insurance Commissioner John Doak called the navigator grants an example of federal "wastefulness."
Mike Rhoads, deputy commissioner of the Insurance Department, said the agency recently conducted more than a dozen sessions to update insurance agents on the law.
"Our preference would be to have agents or brokers assist individuals in their endeavors to enroll," he said.
Some officials have noted that while insurance brokers collect commissions from insurance companies for selling their policies, navigators have no incentive to steer consumers toward a particular plan.
Regardless of whether they are insurance brokers or not, navigators are not allowed to charge citizens for their services under the law.
Ziva Branstetter 918-581-8306
ziva.branstetter@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Groups gear up for health plan start
