Lagging Latino Affordable Care Act Enrollment. Why does it matter? (part 1 of 3)

Much is being written about the lagging Latino enrollment in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Articles present various viewpoints and opinions about this poor showing along with suggestions on how to increase the final enrollment numbers. Knowing that there is little time left in this open enrollment period, the federal and state marketplaces are revising their outreach efforts with the hope that the final enrollment numbers will include a higher percentage of Latino uninsureds.

From the very beginning, we have known many critical characteristics about the Latino uninsured population:

• Numbers. At least one in three Latinos in the U.S. is uninsured, which is a far higher number than other segments. In states like California, Texas and Florida, the numbers are much higher.
• Demographics. On average, this segment tends to be younger and healthier. It includes low-wage earners and self-employed workers. Uninsured Latinos may have limited English proficiency, be bilingual, or speak only English; indigenous populations may speak neither.
• Experience. Many uninsured Latinos have little experience with health insurance concepts such as pre-existing conditions, in-network, and deductibles.
• Computers. Latinos may have limited computer knowledge or no access to a computer.

WHY DO THESE LAGGING NUMBERS MATTER?

One of the basic risk management tenets is to attract and to retain as many young, healthy people as possible into an underwriting pool, which keeps the average premium down for all enrollees. The participation of the Latino uninsured population, which tends to be younger and healthier, is critical to keeping premiums affordable.

Knowing the critical characteristics of this uninsured group should have made the marketing and outreach strategy simple and effective. Well it didn’t go exactly as planned. Read Part 2 of this series to learn “What went wrong.”