Get Covered Jax is an educational campaign to get people enrolled in healthcare. Since it started six weeks ago, 22% of uninsured people are now enrolled.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A City of Jacksonville educational campaign to get people enrolled in government healthcare is doing better than expected.
Since Get Covered Jax began six weeks ago, 22% of uninsured people in Jacksonville are now enrolled.
Previously, the city said 120,000 people in Jacksonville did not have health insurance.
Dr. Sunil Joshi, the city’s Chief Health Officer, said the city knew people would be excited about the program.
“What we didn’t know is that they would call the federally trained assistors, the insurance brokers, navigators at the level in which they have,” Joshi said.
Joshi said Get Covered Jax makes it easy for people to understand their enrollment options and what subsidies they may qualify for.
While he was excited about the progress, Joshi said he and the city want to do more. The city recently met with several local pastors to discuss ways to reach members of their communities.
Monday night, Pastor Elder Lee Harris met with his church leaders at the Mt. Olive Primitive Baptist Church to discuss how they could reach their community.
“Tomorrow we’re going to go through the community to pass out the flyers that you see,” Pastor Harris said while holding a Get Covered Jax flyer.
“People that live in this area there’s not so much a food desert but there’s a health care desert,” he said.
Dec. 15 is the deadline to apply for healthcare if you want it at the start of the new year.
Jan. 15 is the open enrollment deadline.
If you are interested in applying for healthcare through Get Covered Jax you can visit the city’s website.
In addition to getting people covered, Dr. Joshi said Get Covered Jax will save the city millions of dollars.
He said the city spent $40 million on uninsured emergency room visits last year as people were using it as their primary form of care.
