Charleston, W. Virginia – The first-ever Cover WV Day event saw a good response at more than 40 locations across the state despite inclement weather on Tuesday, says the program director for WV Navigator, a nonprofit that provides enrollment assistance in the health insurance marketplace.
Several different state health organizations have teamed up with WV Navigator for this one-day statewide event to offer a free, targeted opportunity for those who don’t already have health insurance to enroll in a plan.
While five of the sites planning to host the event Tuesday were forced to close due to snow and wind in the northern and eastern parts of the state, other sites saw a good turnout, at least, program director Jeremy Smith told MetroNews.
“At the beginning of the day we had over 48 locations,” Smith said. “We’ve already heard from a lot of locations that it’s becoming really successful, that people are coming out, and they’ve been able to meet a number of people.”
Cover WV Day blossomed from an idea to help raise awareness about the need to have health insurance, as well as showcase the various coverage options available to residents through Medicaid, CHIP and on the Marketplace, Smith said.
He said there are still many people in the state who need a health insurance plan.
“We still have about 100,000 people in the state who don’t have health insurance, so we wanted to all come together and raise awareness and create this day to help as many people as possible,” he said.
With more people than ever able to qualify for medical insurance, it may not be a huge impact on their finances either, Smith said, and he encourages them to take another look.
“I think people may have looked at some of these programs in the past and felt like they couldn’t afford them, but there have been a lot of changes in the last couple of years, and the affordability is really the best I’ve seen probably since this program started,” he said.
He said the latest statistic he saw on health insurance affordability was that about 4 in 5 people could start a plan this year for less than $10 a month when they get a plan on the Marketplace.
The Marketplace is worth checking out if you can’t get insurance through a job, Medicaid, Medicare or the VA, but people should sign up before Jan. 16, Smith said.
He said they plan to make Cover WV an annual event, and much of the motivation to do so comes not only from the good response from communities across the state, but also from the many health organizations within those communities willing and able to help them get dressed. event, and help it grow to the size it already has.
“When we first had the idea of doing this, we thought maybe we would get 15 sites, maybe 20 sites, and we actually got a lot of buy-in from other nonprofits, other community groups,” Smith said.
The West Virginia Primary Care Association and the Insurance Commissioner’s Office are among those who provided significant assistance in organizing the event, he said.