As the Affordable Care Act’s coverage provisions have taken effect, 17.6 million Americans have gained coverage, and, since 2010, we’ve reduced the uninsured rate in this country by 45 percent. The nation’s uninsured rate now stands at its lowest level ever. But still, in communities across the country, 10.5 million people eligible for Marketplace coverage remain uninsured.
Today, we are launching the White House “Healthy Communities Challenge” to engage key communities with large numbers or high percentages of uninsured in states across the country where strong federal, state and community collaboration can have a meaningful impact on reaching the uninsured. Through this challenge, we are calling on community leadership to build outreach efforts to reach these remaining uninsured and help them gain coverage.
At the end of this third open enrollment period, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), along with State-based Marketplaces, will publish tallies of new Marketplace signups in participating communities. These tallies will be compared to HHS estimates of the number of eligible uninsured people at the start of open enrollment to see which communities made the most progress during the challenge.
The victorious community gets bragging rights, a healthier community, and a visit from President Obama to celebrate their success in helping ensure every American has health coverage.
Communities Participating in the “Healthy Communities Challenge”
Based on particularly high opportunity for impact, the White House reached out to local officials in each of these 20 communities, who embraced the “Healthy Communities Challenge” to get their uninsured constituents covered: