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Door-to-Door Enrollment a Flop?

Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
Phil Galewitz/Kaiser Health News
/
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

The “Get Covered, America” enrollment effort that mimics the Obama campaign method of door-knocking is proving labor-intensive and mostly ineffective, the New York Times reports. With less than six weeks to go in open-enrollment season for plans under the Affordable Care Act, that presents a substantial problem.

In Florida, Planned Parenthood has created maps from data compiled by Enroll America to show areas where paid workers and volunteers can find the uninsured. On a recent afternoon in Broward County, where there are an estimated 284,000 people for canvassers to target, they reached out to more than 2,600. They got 25 to sign up.
 
Health News Florida reported the same problem in July , when a reporter followed Enroll America canvassers in Tampa who were trying to get the word out to the uninsured. Most of the time, the doors they knocked on weren't answered by the people who were being sought.

Originally founded in December 2006 as an independent grassroots publication dedicated to coverage of health issues in Florida, Health News Florida was acquired by WUSF Public Media in September 2012.