EnrollNY(TM): Easy Way for Uninsured New Yorkers to Find Free and Low-Cost Health Insurance

Free Web Site Checks Eligibility for Medicaid, Child Health Plus, Family Health Plus

TARRYTOWN, N.Y., May 7 /PRNewswire/ — A new FREE Web site — www.EnrollNY.org — allows uninsured New Yorkers to quickly screen for public health insurance eligibility and — for the first time — connects users to health plans to help them complete the application. It’s available to residents of New York City’s five boroughs and six upstate counties (Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Sullivan, Ulster, Dutchess).

Until now it was difficult for uninsured New Yorkers to determine eligibility for NYS’s free and low-cost health insurance. Using EnrollNY, uninsured applicants answer four questions to determine eligibility for Medicaid, Child Health Plus, Family Health Plus. Once information is entered, data are transmitted to a New York State-authorized Facilitated Enrollment organization, which in turn calls eligible applicants within 48 hours to schedule state-required face-to-face interviews.

The Web site was developed by the Hudson Center for Health Equity & Quality (Hcheq) a not-for-profit that develops information technology to streamline health care enrollment and clinical care. EnrollNY was funded in part by a New York State Health Foundation grant awarded to Hcheq.

“While we’ve seen online eligibility calculators before, this is the only application that sends the information to a Facilitated Enrollment organization, which will call the individual to complete the application process,” explains Georganne Chapin, Hcheq’s President/CEO. “EnrollNY is a major leap in making the current application process more efficient, and convenient, and speeds the path to enrollment for the uninsured. Our hope is that EnrollNY will give millions of uninsured New Yorkers easier access to free or low-cost health care.”

“One of the quickest ways to reduce the skyrocketing number of uninsured New Yorkers is to make sure those who are eligible for public programs are enrolled,” said James R. Knickman, President/CEO, New York State Health Foundation.

Community-based organizations can use the site to educate uninsured clients about available program. Hcheq encourages organizations to add EnrollNY links to their Web sites.

EnrollNY is powered by FEEA(TM) (Facilitated Enrollment Electronic Application), a paperless system developed by Hcheq to automate Medicaid enrollment. FEEA makes it possible for an uninsured application started on EnrollNY to be transmitted electronically through every stage of the approval process, through to Albany, reducing errors, duplication, and waste. Visit www.EnrollNY.org.

SOURCE EnrollNY