10 Navigators for 1 Million People
A million or more North Texans may be eligible, and all may qualify for federal subsidies to defray the cost of premiums. Small businesses also may purchase in the exchange, or marketplace…
10 local navigators were hired by the Community Council of Greater Dallas, which is part of a consortium headed by the United Way of Tarrant County. Statewide, it is almost finished hiring about 75 navigators, using a $5.9 million federal grant, said Don Smith, United Way’s vice president for community development. (More)
That’s 75 navigators for an estimated 4,886,100 uninsured Texans.
Ha should be helpful
Imagine what the wait list will look like for one of those appointments…
Probably like if the DPS cut all of its employees except one.
“It’s supposed to be an Orbitz-like experience. So far, it’s more like the days of dial-up modems.”
I think ‘dial-up modems’ might even be too rewarding…
It’s like using an old 8088 IBM PC with a 2400 baud, dial-up modem on an old party line while accessing a Website tries to use Java script, Adobe Shockwave and PDF files.
“Thanks for your patience!”
Let’s hope there aren’t any Navigators who lack integrity
http://healthblog.ncpathinktank.org/just-who-are-these-navigators/
“What are their backgrounds? Most navigators have experience explaining things and interacting with the public. Many have worked in the health care industry.”
The fed is try to ‘save face’ with all of those health care workers who have found themselves unemployed because of Obamacare
I’d rather see zero Navigators hired. In the long-run, the system isn’t going to work. The government is simply wasting tax dollars hiring people for an ineffective system that will be repealed sooner or later.
I agree about not needing these navigators. Does a navigator really need to “hold someone’s hand” through the registration process?
If so, that $90M given to the web developer was a waste of money.
Random question: Do navigators provide a laptop during the appointment?
So you support hiring more navigators then? Great, let’s get Congress to appropriate some more money to do this.
Nationwide the HHS allocated only $67 million to hire navigators.
The average cost to hire a navigator in Texas is $78,666 based on the story above. (The navigators are paid nowhere near that much…..makes me wonder if the non-profits involved are being wasteful.)
But my real point is that $67 million is pathetically small. The cost of the government shutdown is estimated at $600 million for contrast. HHS has paid many times this amount to software firms.
$67 million will produce less than 1,000 employees for this major program.
Did HHS think that the software would just run itself?
Medicaid and the VA and even Social Security have far more employees to help the public get subsidies.
Of course right at the moment, all that most of the navigators can do is to scare at the same error messages as the applicants!