CHICAGO (AP) — With the program known as "Obamacare" only weeks away from its key launch date, hectic preparations are in motion in communities across the country to deal with one of its major practical challenges: hiring and training a small army of instant experts who can explain the intricacies of health insurance to people who've never had it. More than 100 nonprofits and related organizations, which specialize in everything from running soup kitchens to organizing farm workers, have been recruited by the federal government to sign up "navigators" to help the 30 million uninsured people who can now gain coverage. According to the new health law, people can begin shopping among the new policies on Oct. 1. The guides will be sent to community events with laptops to help people sign up for insurance online. The navigators must listen to a family's real-world story, assess its income, and figure out eligibility for the Medicaid program, which provides health care for the poor, or for new tax credits, each with its own complicated rules. In Mississippi, workers will go into rural areas without Internet access to help people with the enrollment and policy-shopping process, which is done online. In 17 states, navigators have additional hoops to jump through because of new state laws affecting the federal health care law, such as required background checks for the workers.
Reported by SeattlePI.com 3 hours ago.
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