New York's Facilitated Enrollers for Health Insurance

New York State funds a community-based network of "facilitated enrollers" to help families apply for the state's various health care programs. In operation since 2000, the program enables workers to apply for benefits during evening and weekend hours, eliminating the necessity and costs of taking time off from work. Facilitated enrollers provide various forms of assistance, including conducting outreach on public health insurance programs, screening individuals for the appropriate program, helping them complete their application, collecting the required documentation, and transmitting the completed application to the appropriate entity in a timely manner. These counselors are available in more than 100 community-based agencies, including schools, churches, libraries, YMCAs, town halls, food pantries, community centers, and boys and girls clubs. Facilitated enrollers are culturally and linguistically representative of the populations they serve, and these counselors provide services in more than 40 languages.

The goal of this program is to help New York families apply for public health care programs.

Since the program's inception, more than 600,000 children and adults statewide have been enrolled in Medicaid, Child Health Plus, Family Health Plus, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, and the Prenatal Care Assistance Program.