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Covered California Wants to Enroll 500,000 More People

Officials of the exchange created by the Affordable Care Act said they want total sign-ups to reach 1.7 million by the end of a three-month enrollment period that begins Nov. 15.

Reaching people on the second go-round could be harder than the first, a leader of the Covered California marketplace said Monday, announcing the goal of signing up 500,000 more people for health insurance.

Officials of the exchange created by the Affordable Care Act said they want total sign-ups to reach 1.7 million by the end of a three-month enrollment period that begins Nov. 15.

About 1.2 million Californians are already covered via the program that launched its first enrollment effort nearly a year ago. Coverage started on Jan. 1.

The remaining uninsured include people who have gone without coverage for years, adopting a culture of coping, said Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee

“We want to move that to a culture of coverage, to ‘get everyone in,’” he said, repeating the theme of a new marketing campaign.

Exchange officials said groups that will receive special focus include African-Americans where enrollment has lagged. Latinos and Asian-Americans will also receive special attention.

Hundreds more people have been hired at service centers to improve wait times that drew harsh complaints.

“We were swamped last year,” Lee said in a Los Angeles news conference.

Lee said $47 million will be spent on advertising and $14.6 million in new grants will go to community groups focused on outreach, enrollment and helping people navigate the insurance system.

Groups receiving money for outreach in Ventura County will include: Koreatown Multipurpose Senior Center, the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, United Ways of California and Vision y Compromiso.

A year ago, the Ventura County Public Health Department was awarded $700,000 in a Covered California grant for outreach efforts involving public health workers and subcontractors, such as Clinicas del Camino Real and Ventura County Area Agency on Aging. That grant continues until the end of the year.

Neither the public health department nor its subcontractors received money in the new $14.6 million program, according to a list released Monday.

A Clinicas official said the organization didn’t apply for the new grant money. Rigoberto Vargas, director of the public health department, said his agency was part of a team led by the Area Agency on Aging that applied for a new grant but didn’t receive it.

“As an agency, we’ll still be able to help enroll,” he said, noting some on his staff are certified as enrollment counselors.

James Scullary, spokesman for Covered California, said 146 groups applied for grants in requests totaling about $65 million.

“We basically had a quarter of that to work with,” he said.

Manuel Arriola, co-owner of Pacific Preferred Insurance Brokers in Oxnard, said the enrollment process last year was marked by technology issues and bottlenecks.

“Chaos,” he said, predicting lessons learned from the experience could make the process easier come Nov. 15, particularly for people who seek help when they enroll.

People who signed up in the first go-round can automatically renew. They can shop for a new plan. They can drop coverage and face a potential fine.

Vince Behrens, 56, of Oxnard, will likely renew. Before Covered California, he and his family hadn’t been insured in 10 years. Paying premiums is a struggle. But when Behrens needed to be rushed to the emergency room for a collapse he attributed to stress, he was covered.

“I went to the doctor and it got paid for,” he said.

©2014 Ventura County Star (Camarillo, Calif.)