FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - November 13, 2014
Contact: Audrey Sandusky, 202-293-3114 ext. 207
Family Planning Health Centers Play Crucial Role in Raising Awareness about Enrollment
WASHINGTON, DC – As the membership organization representing family planning administrators and clinicians predominantly serving low-income and uninsured women and men, the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA) knows publicly funded family planning health centers are uniquely positioned to help uninsured and hard-to-reach populations gain access to new, more affordable health coverage available through the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Over the past few years, NFPRHA has been working with its members to provide outreach and enrollment assistance, including information about the important health benefits under the law, and will continue to support these efforts during the second enrollment period, which begins Saturday.
“We know that poor and low-income women of reproductive age are not only disproportionately uninsured but also at the greatest risk for unintended pregnancy,” said Clare Coleman, President & CEO of NFPRHA. “Family planning providers are deeply embedded in their communities and skilled in providing decision-making support to their patients, both women and men. So, there is a great need for the family planning network to play a role in raising awareness about the importance of getting insurance coverage and staying covered.”
Outreach and enrollment work is critical to improving sustainability of the family planning network. It helps previously uninsured individuals gain access to family planning and sexual health services, allows publicly funded providers to free up funds that can be used to subsidize services, and improves payer mix for providers. NFPRHA has a long-standing history of helping its members improve patient support by providing tools and trainings to help patients access the information they need to choose appropriate health coverage and access family planning care without barriers. To help maximize the number of uninsured who will benefit expanded access to insurance, NFPRHA has been supporting an outreach project called Get Covered: Family Planning, which supports outreach activity across the entire family planning network and provides dedicated support in five cities or regions with high rates of newly eligible, uninsured populations, including Chicago, Houston, Kansas City (MO), Northern New Jersey, and Philadelphia.
Get Covered: Family Planning has provided support to partnering health centers and augmented their efforts with field staff. Together, these partnerships have resulted in more than 100,000 encounters and more than 12,000 applications for coverage. As NFPRHA continues to partner, 40 enrollment events have already been scheduled during this enrollment period.
To arrange an interview with a Get Covered: Family Planning health center partner, please contact Audrey Sandusky at asandusky@nfprha.org or 202-293-3114 ext. 207.
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The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA) is a membership organization representing the nation's family planning providers—nurses, nurse practitioners, administrators and other key health care professionals. For 41 years, NFPRHA members have provided high-quality preventive health care services in thousands of health centers to millions of women and men annually. Everyday our members help people act responsibly, stay healthy and plan for strong families.