DANFORTH — Access to affordable health insurance is a key component to Health Care reform as described in the Affordable Care Act. Residents in all of Washington County will have access to information about affordable health insurance. All the health centers in Washington County learned this week they are the recipients of supplemental federal funding to facilitate community education, outreach and enrollment.
East Grand Health Center (EGHC), Eastport Health Care (EHC), Harrington Family Health Center (HFHC), Regional Medical Center at Lubec (RMCL) and St. Croix Regional Family Health Center (SCRFHC) are preparing to launch activities aimed at providing information about affordable health insurance coverage opportunities. Each health center will have dedicated staff to help any resident in the county.
Holly Gartmayer DeYoung, CEO at Eastport Health Care, noted all of the Washington County health centers were working collaboratively to meet the goals established at the national level.
“Although we each received individual funding, we are working together, and we’ll also work with Downeast Community Hospital and Calais Regional Hospital, to ensure we have a coordinated system to bring information about insurance options to everyone in our county,” she said. “We’ll each be able to screen and enroll any community member into the program that best fits per defined eligibility guidelines.”
Cori LaPlant, CEO at St. Croix Regional Family Health Center announced she has successfully recruited an Outreach and Enrollment Coordinator. HFHC, EGHC, RMCL and EHC are actively recruiting Outreach and Enrollment Coordinators for their respective health centers.
“We each aim to provide community education as well as education to our staff”, offered Marilyn Hughes, CEO at RMCL. “We’ll accomplish this using brochures, presentations, 1:1 and through the media.”
Bill Wypyski, CEO at HFHC notes, “This is a tremendous opportunity to ensure everyone in our county has some type of health insurance.” The Affordable Care Act has made provision for purchasing insurance through Marketplaces, or to receive MaineCare or CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Plan) for those who are eligible.
Jeff Hamm, Executive Director at East Grand Health Center, advises, “This change in health insurance options is new to us all. Having the health centers all working together will be helpful to us all!”
In the coming weeks, the citizens of Maine will be hearing much about health insurance options and the Marketplace. Each Washington County health center will be training to have the most current information to offer the communities we each serve. All the CEO’s agreed, they are on forefront of significant change in health access, noting they are all ready and poised to serve as a resource for anyone in our county.
