Cecilia Fernandez of Phoenix faced losing her health insurance after she left the job that offered her health plan.
Without medical care, Fernandez would not have been able to treat his type 2 diabetes and other health complications.
So she called a friend who she thought might have the answer to her problem.
Her friend, Brenda Cardenas, community programs director at Adelante Healthcare, leads a team of employees in the Navigator Program, created under the Affordable Care Act: Navigators are local employees who help underserved residents access health care.
“I was able to get insurance and within a few weeks I had my health card and was able to get my primary done,” Fernandez said.
The care Fernandez received is part of a larger expansion plan to invest $500 million over the next five years in the Navigators program, the Biden administration announced Friday.
“When we help someone, it creates this ripple effect,” Cardenas said. “It’s a simple conversation of, ‘Hey, have you thought about the Marketplace? Have you created an account? Would you like to give it a try?’ It’s a really quick, warm handoff to really identify what the best insurance option is for those families.”
The $500 million in grant funding will be available over the next five years, with the first $100 million available in 2024.
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra and White House Domestic Policy Council Chair Neera Tanden visited the Adelante Healthcare facility in Goodyear on Friday to discuss the new investment and its expected impact in Arizona.
The navigator program is necessary to provide access to health care to underserved communities, a priority for President Joe Biden, Tanden said.
“I’m here to understand what works with Obamacare, with Medicaid. Expanding Medicaid coverage is critical to health care. That’s why the president believes everyone should have health care, that health care should be a right,” she said.
The Navigator program’s strategy is to target community outreach in schools, libraries and public spaces.
“We know that once we get to a community, we can cover every part of that community. And one of the things the president is really proud of is that we’ve really dramatically increased our numbers across health care,” Tanden said.
Arizonans’ access to health care, by the numbers
The uninsured rate among a large segment of the medically underserved population has fallen by a third over the past three years, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data released Friday.
The number of insured Arizonans also increased:
- Arizona’s Latino uninsured rate fell by 36%.
- The uninsured rate for Asian American Pacific Islanders in Arizona has been cut in half.
- The uninsured rate among Arizona Native Americans fell by 26 percent.
Because some Americans still face barriers to accessing health care, Becerra said the Biden administration wants to create more in-person access to the health care system in schools.
“Another area where the president is making big investments is behavioral health,” Becerra said. “Substance use for mental illness is a problem that we need to address more quickly and thoroughly.”
Cardenas said the millions of dollars announced by the Biden administration will help more Arizonans get access to health care and put more navigators in public locations.
“We’ve learned that being present in community locations and at community events, being there to help and ready to apply, makes it that much easier for those we serve,” she said.
