The job listing says the applicant “should possess experience with canvassing/community organizing, program recruitment and retention....
President Barack Obama has set aside $67 million to make it easier to enroll in his health-care overhaul. Laws pushed ... in 12 states may keep that from happening.
Under the [Un]Affordable Care Act, the U.S. government plans to pay a network of local groups known as navigators to explain the law’s new coverage options to the uninsured and guide them through its online insurance markets. ...
The Obama administration awarded 105 grants last week, steering money to hospitals, social-service agencies, local clinics and other groups [of supporters]. The navigators are meant to offer “unbiased information” to help people through the complexities of the new system, with its deductibles, copays, provider networks and tax credits, according to an Aug. 15 statement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...
In Florida this week, Governor Rick Scott told a Miami audience that federal privacy protections for consumers working with navigators were “behind schedule and inadequate.” He urged people to use brokers and agents instead.
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal ... believes navigators need state regulation because they’ll give advice on “a highly complicated and highly important topic,” his spokesman, Brian Robinson, said in an e-mail. They will also handle personal information that is open to abuse. ...
States require agents to be licensed and undergo periodic training, said Statz, who’s based in Brecksville, Ohio. He also has to carry insurance to protect clients who may be hurt by bad advice or malpractice, he said.
The 2010 law is intended to prod millions of Americans to buy health insurance, many for the first time. Those seeking coverage must provide details on citizenship, family size and income to determine whether they’re eligible for subsidies, and complete a form that can stretch to seven pages. ...
Georgia’s navigators need a license from the insurance commissioner. Each person assisting the uninsured has to pay a $50 application fee, complete 35 hours of training -- 15 more than the federal requirement -- pass an exam, and complete a criminal background check. Licenses must be renewed every year, requiring another $50 and 15 more hours of training. [This is 5 hours and $100 less than in California, where I can assure you, licensing is an incredibly low bar already. It only keeps out the most frequent of paste-eating, helmet-wearing droolers. But in this context the Obama Administration argues it is far too high a bar.] ...
The Obama administration has been “in conversations with states” to ensure their laws don’t hinder the effort [to place unqualified political supporters on the ObamaTax payroll], said Chiquita Brooks-Lasure, a deputy director at the federal health department, in an Aug. 15 conference call with reporters.
The federal law doesn’t require background checks. ...
