Texas Blue begins HIX outreach and Covered California mulls promotions with major retailers like Walmart in this week's HIX Digest.
'Be Covered Texas'
About 6 million Texans are currently uninsured, and with a legislature and governor mostly opposed to the Affordable Care Act, the state's largest insurer is doing its own outreach for the federally-facilitated health insurance exchange.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas has launched a bilingual campaign called "Be Covered Texas," using the web, text messages, nonprofits, schools and churches to help uninsured and low-income Texans learn about and enroll in the federal exchange.
"The worst thing that could happen is for Texans to ignore the new realities of the marketplace," Bert Marshall, the company's president, told the Texas Tribune.
Although Texas has a strong economy, with a relatively low 6.2 percent unemployment rate, about 24 percent of Texas' 26 million residents do not have health insurance -- a larger percentage than any other state.
Covered California looks to retailers for outreach
There are more than 250 Walmart and Sam's Club stores in California, frequented by many of working class consumers Covered California, the state HIX, is trying to reach.
As the LA Times first reported, Covered California officials are mulling partnerships with retailers like Wal-Mart to help educate and perhaps enroll the 5 million Californians estimated to be eligible for new coverage through the exchange.
Covered California has dedicated $43 million over two years for community group outreach, and the idea of partnering with retailers is part of a broader marketing strategy targeting as many people as possible, because the exchange's success in terms of financial sustainability depends on a diverse and sizable population.
As Covered California discusses the possibility of partnerships with retailers, the proposal has sparked controversy.
"Wal-Mart is one of the problems health reform is trying to fix," Sara Flocks, public policy coordinator at the California Labor Federation, told the LA Times. "Wal-Mart is the driving force behind taking insurance away from Californians."
But some critics of Wal-Mart's employment practices and benefit offerings think the partnership could go a long way to educating the public.
"I am in favor of anything that gets people enrolled," Nelson Lichtenstein, a UC Santa Barbara labor history professor, told the Times. "Put a table in Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Costco and CVS pharmacies. I'm for it all."