With the Affordable Care Act now underway, many Americans still have questions about the new health-care reform law. And one national initiative is looking to answer those questions and get LGBT people, including those in the Philadelphia area, connected with health care.
Out2Enroll is a collaborative effort of the Philadelphia-based Sellers Dorsey Foundation, the Center for American Progress and the Federal Agencies Project. The initiative aims to educate the LGBT community on its options under the ACA.
Out2Enroll will host an information session at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 12 at Thomas Jefferson University, 1001 Locust St., to provide advice to both LGBT community members and navigators, who assist those who are applying for health-care coverage.
Sellers Dorsey Foundation executive director Christopher R. Labonte said the foundation, whose mission is to improve the health of the LGBT community, recognized the education was lacking about the ACA, and its importance to the community.
“We realized that one in every three low-income LGBT Americans is uninsured and about three quarters of the LGBT population remained unaware of what their options were under the Affordable Care Act,” Labonte said.
He added that Out2Enroll’s website offers useful resources, and the initiative is staging events such as town-hall forums across the country to shed light on the seemingly daunting process of accessing health care under the ACA.
“We sought to answer questions that the LGBT community will have that are specific to our lives and needs,” he said. “We know that there are areas with a large number of uninsured populations, so we’re teaming up to do a series of regional events to bring Out2Enroll to communities that need it the most.”
Labonte said the program in Philadelphia will consist of two segments — one in which navigators will be given information on LGBT-specific needs and during which they can ask questions specific to serving an LGBT client, while the other part will allow LGBT community members to review the process for applying for health insurance under the ACA, with navigators available for help.
Labonte said services such as Out2Enroll are meant to educate and empower LGBT community members.
“We hope they learn that there are many options out there for the LGBT community that are important and that there are protections in the law for the LGBT community, such as plans cannot discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity,” he said. “On a broad scope, we hope the community can move towards enrollment and getting health insurance.”
For more information, visit www.out2enroll.org or email [email protected].