Grant will boost ACA enrollment in NC despite state’s official resistance

The most noble do-gooders among us are the ones who keep pulling people up the hill even when the hill gets steeper and the angry people at the top start rolling boulders down the slope. Into that category of nobility put the organizations that provide “navigators” to help people comb through their options under the Affordable Care Act and ultimately sign up for needed health insurance. Four organizations that provide those navigators are sharing $3.4 million in federal grants to help them get the job done.

In North Carolina, helping the ACA work can be a thankless task. Certainly no appreciation comes from Republican legislative leaders who’ve missed no opportunity to roll some boulders down that hill with regards to the ACA and the federal exchanges through which people can buy health insurance. So-called “Obamacare,” reviled by Republicans mainly because it is one of President Obama’s signature successes, has made it possible for millions of Americans to get health insurance for the first time.

But GOP leaders in North Carolina declined to form a state exchange to make the ACA more accessible to people and have refused to expand Medicaid, which might have provided care for 500,000 more North Carolinians – at no cost to the state for three years and with little cost thereafter.

Despite the unwillingness of Republican leaders to help the uninsured and their failure to lift a finger in terms of creating state exchanges, North Carolina has more than 545,000 people enrolled in ACA insurance. That’s the fourth-highest enrollment in the country.

The navigators face a big challenge, operating as they are without a bit of help from state lawmakers or Gov. Pat McCrory.

ACA open enrollment begins Nov. 1 and closes Jan. 31. The grants that have been issued are thus more vital than ever, particularly with an upcoming presidential election that could either strengthen the ACA under a President Hillary Clinton or end it under President Donald Trump. Although with perhaps 20 million people affected, ending the program might be easier said than done.

For now, the good people who help others understand the ACA have a little recognition of their good work in the form of a few million dollars to help them continue it.

This story was originally published September 7, 2016 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Grant will boost ACA enrollment in NC despite state’s official resistance."