Open enrollment for marketplace insurance is in full swing and Central Florida’s Primary Care Access Network is assisting enrollees. Among those applying for new coverage are immigrants through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
“We're trying to address all the populations that are in need of this assistance, including DACA recipients. It depends on their situation and what they would qualify for under the marketplace,” said Rebecca Sayago, PCAN executive director.
DACA, introduced by then-President Barack Obama in 2012, allowed undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to temporarily remain in the country and obtain work permits. It does not confer legal status but provides protection from deportation. Those with DACA status are often known as "Dreamers."
PCAN is a free service offered in Osceola, Orange, Seminole and Lake counties. Those interested in receiving navigator guidance can visit CoveringCFl.net. Enrollment for insurance beginning at the start of 2025 ends Dec. 15. However, the last day for open enrollment is Jan. 15.
PCAN has 16 navigators ready to assist those with DACA status in a variety of languages, including Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian, Portuguese, Haitian Creole and Vietnamese.
“Navigators come from these communities. So they understand not only that they speak the language and that they come from the same background, but they come from these communities,” Sayago said.
Helping Dreamers and those without Medicaid
Florida is home to about 20,000 with DACA status, according to the American Immigration Council. PCAN is expecting to enroll a large portion of that number along with several other key groups in the area, including people who lost their Medicaid coverage this year due to the Medicaid unwinding or redetermination.
Starting in 2023, Florida and other states began disenrolling Medicaid recipients. During the COVID-19 public health emergency, Medicaid eligibility expanded, and states were not allowed to drop people who no longer qualified for Medicaid under a continuous enrollment provision.
By the end of the unwinding this year, 1.3 million Floridians had their coverage terminated, according to the Florida Policy Institute. About 64% lost coverage for “procedural reasons,” meaning they were eligible for coverage but the administration was unable to get in contact with them.
Sayago said she is expecting enrollment to be high this year. Last year, which included the unwinding, PCAN experienced a 26% increase in marketplace plans, Sayago said.
The navigator program is aiming to increase enrollment even more through other priority populations such as Black and Indigenous people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community.
How and where to apply
Last year, PCAN added a Vietnamese fluent-speaking navigator to better reach Central Florida’s large Vietnamese population.
PCAN found that the strategy of connecting with enrollees through language as well as community culture worked.
“It has increased tremendously the number of people that we've been able to enroll and assist in the marketplace,” Sayago said.
Those looking to book a navigator with PCAN can do so through its website CoveringCFL.net or by calling the number 1-877-564-5031.
Appointments are scheduled in 90-minute bookings, but Sayago said it doesn’t always take that long to get enrolled in a plan. New customers could take a bit more time to go over all the important variables such as chronic conditions to find the best fitting plan.
“It depends how involved, and if we try our best to make sure that the consumer knows all the information that they have to bring to that first appointment, either as virtual or in person,” she said.
After the best plan has been picked, navigators then go over how to use the plan in a process PCAN calls “coverage to care.”
“We teach them how to use the plan and understand their deductibles, their copays, choosing their providers, and the closest locations that are providing care to this individual under their plan,” she said.
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