The past few weeks since July’s Senate victory for protecting the Affordable Care Act have shown us how far President Trump and his executive agencies will go to make sure Obamacare protections reach as few Americans as possible.
The degradation of enrollment navigator programs for health coverage is the latest example of this.
Previously, the Trump administration cut the enrollment window for Americans to enroll in an ACA insurance plan for the 2017-18 enrollment period in half. Then, he reduced prospective enrollees access to this information by slashing Obamacare’s advertising budget by 90 percent.
Concurrently, the Department of Health and Human Services, after informing Obamacare navigators their jobs will be safe, cut funding for in-person enrollment programs by 41 percent.
Now, these navigator programs have no funding at all. On the heels of these cuts, Trump and his team have halted Obamacare’s $63 million enrollment outreach program, completely unannounced.
For context, last year’s grant funding bolstering these nonprofits was exhausted Sept. 1, according to New York Magazine. Instead of awarding next year’s money, President Trump cut off funding flow.
Perfect timing — navigator groups were just about to begin outreach for prospective 2017-18 enrollees. Who will tell citizens that they have only half the amount of usual time to enroll now?
It’s unclear when funding for the 2018 period will arrive, although it could come as late as Sept. 30. Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services told navigator organizations there will be no reimbursement for activity fees accrued during the month of September.
Navigator programs are essential for getting the country’s most vulnerable populations health coverage. According to Vox, one-third of those seeking in-person enrollment do so because they don’t have internet access. One-tenth do so because they don’t speak English.
Nonprofit organizations enrolling the country’s most vulnerable populations have been thrown into confusion.
Essential personnel have been laid off in reaction to the president’s quiet lapse in funding. Fewer enrollment experts will be able to help the growing population needing government-subsidized insurance, and more Americans will remain uninsured for the following year.
As the New York Times reported in August, it’s already difficult to get citizens enrolled in an Obamacare plan when the program is constantly under attack. Navigator programs have a hard time as it is reaching out to Americans in need of insurance when those citizens are unsure of how they will be treated by their president or the health insurance market.
In spite of a legislative victory in the Senate, the executive branch has managed to cut off prospective enrollees’ access to Obamacare insurance plans in two key ways.
The first is by drastically shortening the amount of time to enroll for next year and the second is by not disseminating these changes to the public by cutting off media advertising and in-person enrollment programs.
While a bipartisan effort has emerged to stabilize the 2017-2018 heath insurance markets, the White House is making sure as few Americans as possible reap the benefits of government-subsidized insurance.
Human lives have been endangered because of the Trump administration’s actions. Instead of increasing health coverage for next year, Trump is playing politics with Americans’ health.
jsbourkl@indiana.edu
@jsbourkland
