RALEIGH · August 30, 2021—The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded the NC Navigator Consortium $4,951,640 per year for the next three years to enroll North Carolinians in affordable health insurance on HealthCare.gov, the federal Health Insurance Marketplace established by the Affordable Care Act.
This grant is the second largest in the country awarded by CMS for the 2021-2024 grant period.
The grant was announced last week by CMS, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Legal Aid of North Carolina, a statewide, nonprofit law firm that provides free civil legal aid to low-income North Carolinians, is the leader of the consortium and will administer the grant.
The grant will fund a corps of Navigators, who are trained to help consumers understand the details of plans available on the Health Insurance Marketplace at www.healthcare.gov, determine which plan will best meet the needs of their family, apply for financial assistance, and complete the enrollment process.
“We are thrilled to be able to continue the work that we started back in 2014,” Mark Van Arnam, director of the NC Navigator Consortium, said.
“We are honored that we were chosen to receive the second largest award among all the grantees. This really fuels our Navigators as it reflects on the amazing work done by Legal Aid Navigators and our sub-grantees over the last eight years,” said Van Arnam. “We’ll be able to help more North Carolinians connect to coverage through application assistance and enrollment education. We’ll help more of our community understand health insurance by providing free health insurance literacy events and free appointments, year-round, to talk with a Navigator about any questions they may have.”
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About
The NC Navigator Consortium is a group of nine health care, social service and legal aid organizations that helps North Carolina consumers enroll in affordable, comprehensive health insurance plans on HealthCare.gov, the Health Insurance Marketplace established by the Affordable Care Act. Members of the consortium are Access East, Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy, Council on Aging of Buncombe County, Cumberland HealthNet, HealthNet Gaston, Kintegra Health, NC Field, Pisgah Legal Services, and Legal Aid of North Carolina, which leads the consortium. Learn more at ncnavigator.net and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The project described was supported by Funding Opportunity number NAVCA210405-01-00 from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The contents provided are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of HHS or any of its agencies.