News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 10, 2015 

HHC Offers Bilingual Counselors to Help People Apply for Health Insurance Before Deadline

HHC Offers Bilingual Counselors to Help New Yorkers Apply for Health Insurance Before the February 15 ACA Deadline

(New York, NY) New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) officials announced today that bilingual health insurance enrollment counselors are available at HHC facilities to help New Yorkers access affordable health insurance before the February 15 Affordable Care Act (ACA) deadline. HHC enrollment counselors speak a variety of languages that reflect the communities they serve, including Spanish, Chinese, French Creole, Russian, Hindi and Bengali.

“Navigating the health insurance enrollment process can be difficult for those with limited English proficiency. That can lead to people becoming discouraged and giving up on the process, even when subsidies are available to help pay for insurance,” said Seth Diamond, Chief Operating Officer at HHC’s MetroPlus Health Plan. “We know that lack of access to bilingual counselors has been identified as a major barrier for enrolling limited English-speaking New Yorkers in health insurance under the ACA. With our bilingual and culturally-competent navigators, we hope to remove that barrier and get people the access to the health services they need.”

HHC and its insurance plan MetroPlus are making certified, bilingual enrollment counselors available free of charge every day until the deadline at all 11 HHC hospitals, and Monday to Friday at many of its community health centers. Counselors inform and educate consumers about the best health insurance options and ways to minimize costs, and can help people through the enrollment process on the NY State of Health online marketplace.

Many New Yorkers enrolling for coverage under the ACA can qualify for tax credits to help pay insurance premiums, and assistance for co-pays, deductibles, and other out-of-pocket costs. An individual may qualify for tax credits if he or she earns up to $45,900 a year; a family of four can qualify while earning up to $94,200 a year.

“New York State’s online marketplace offers a wide variety of plans,” added Diamond. “For a family of four with an annual income of $36,500, a plan that would normally cost $700 a month would be free after subsidies and other adjustments. The same family would pay just $88 per month for a plan that normally costs $1000 per month, and $338 for a plan that costs $1250 per month. Assistance is available for individuals as well.”

To be listed on NY State of Health, health insurance plans must provide both ‘preventive care’ and ‘essential health’ benefits for members. Preventive care benefits are provided without cost-sharing (coinsurance, deductible or copayment) and include important primary care services for adults and children.

Essential health benefits include ambulatory patient services; hospitalization; emergency services; maternity and newborn care; mental health and substance abuse treatment; prescription medications; rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices; pediatric services, including oral and vision care; laboratory services; and wellness services including chronic disease management.

More City residents chose MetroPlus as their preferred health insurance on the state’s online marketplace last year than any other plan. MetroPlus offers access to a network of more than 12,000 primary care physicians and specialist sites cross the City and has some of the most affordable insurance plan options available on NY State of Health. Its plans also offers low-cost vision and dental riders. For more information about enrollment counseling from MetroPlus, or for information about health insurance plans, consumers can call MetroPlus customer service at 800-475-6387.

Individuals who are not eligible for Medicaid, Medicare or cannot purchase insurance under the ACA can still go to an HHC facility to receive healthcare regardless of their immigration status or their ability to pay. To locate an HHC facility near you, call 311 or visit www.nyc.gov/hhc.

For a list of times and locations where MetroPlus’s enrollment counselors will be available between today and February 15, click here. For information about HHC counselors, contact the HHC facility most convenient to you.

 

Contact: Ian Michaels, (212) 788-3339

About HHC

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) is a $6.7 billion integrated healthcare delivery system, the largest municipal healthcare organization in the country, and one of the New York area's largest providers of government-sponsored health insurance, MetroPlus Health Plan, the plan of choice for nearly half a million New Yorkers. HHC serves 1.4 million New Yorkers every year and more than 475,000 are uninsured. HHC provides medical, mental health and substance abuse services through its 11 acute care hospitals, five skilled nursing facilities, six large diagnostic and treatment centers and more than 70 community based clinics. HHC Health and Home Care also provides in-home services for New Yorkers. HHC was the 2008 recipient of the National Quality Forum and The Joint Commission's John M. Eisenberg Award for Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality. For more information, visit www.nyc.gov/hhc or find us on facebook.com/nycHHC or twitter.com/HHCnyc.

About MetroPlus

Over nearly 30 years, MetroPlus Health Plan has built a reputation for providing affordable, quality care to residents of Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens. A health services plan certified under Section 4403-a of the New York Public Health Law, MetroPlus is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), the largest municipal healthcare organization in the country, MetroPlus provides managed care to nearly half a million eligible New Yorkers. In addition to Medicaid Managed Care, MetroPlus offers Child Health Plus, several Medicare Advantage Plans, a Special Needs Plan (SNP) for people with HIV and their families, a Long-Term Managed Care Plan, and over 40 NY State of Health Marketplace products with a total enrollment of 445,000. The company’s robust network of primary care doctors and specialists includes many independent community providers. Plan staff is drawn from the communities that MetroPlus serves and speaks more than seventy languages. MetroPlus has consistently been one of the top-ranked health plans in New York City for almost 10 years.