The coverage expansions in the Affordable Care Act will not do any good if people don’t know about them, and if they aren’t able to easily access and enroll in them. While the federal government allows state based exchanges to do outreach and education, and to pay assisters and navigators to help people get and stay enrolled, those same resources are not available for the Medi-Cal expansion.
In response to this omission, the California Endowment has decided to leverage its resources toward ensuring the state’s lowest income and most vulnerable residents can also get help signing up for new coverage options. Funding will be available for Assisters that help people sign up for Medi-Cal and for those assisting with renewals. Additional resources will be applied toward outreach and media.