It could have been so simple: The challenges of enrolling women

Even though the Affordable Care Act is the biggest expansion in health coverage in a generation, it does not cover everyone; requires individuals to actively enroll; allows significant variations in enrollment systems at the level of the states and territories, including eligibility for Medicaid; and, it maintains the dominant role of for-profit health insurance companies. These structural weaknesses create challenges and in some cases absolute barriers to enrollment for many individuals who are currently uninsured, especially women. This presentation will provide an in depth examination of two aspects of coverage that are especially relevant for women: Medicaid expansion and the challenges of reaching and enrolling disenfranchised women. Young healthy males are the top target for enrollment by the for-profit insurers participating in the new health exchanges. National campaigns to generate awareness, build support and motivate enrollment are targeting young healthy males with gender-specific messages and using male athletes as celebrity spokesmen. Efforts to reach and motivate women are less well-funded and often grassroots-driven. The presenter will discuss Countdown to Coverage and other promising practices that are successfully reach uninsured women. Disseminating messages that communicate the reproductive justice impact of extending Medicaid coverage to the women who would be left uninsured without the expansion is an effective strategy to build support for Medicaid expansion in states that have not yet changed their eligibility levels.