Phoenix wins grant to sell Obamacare

The City of Phoenix announced on Wednesday that it has taken a $2.3 million grant for Arizona community health centers to sell Obamacare to its residents. U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius joined Mayor Greg Stanton at Phoenix’s Mountain Park Health Center, which will receive more than $200,000 of the funding.

Health centers in Phoenix alone will receive more than $600,000.

Sebelius said. “This investment will give the people of Phoenix one more resource to help understand their insurance options and enroll in affordable coverage.”

In Arizona, health centers served 423,160 patients last year, 27 percent of whom were uninsured. With these funds, the awardees expect to hire 45 additional workers, who will assist 61,638 Arizonans with enrollment into Obamacare.

Stanton thanked Sebelius for the grant. Stanton said the health centers will provide outreach for enrollment.

In 2012, Stanton, the City Council and hospital partners advocated for the Phoenix Access to Care Ordinance, a plan to stabilize the economic vitality of the health-care industry by creating a new funding source to help cover the costs of the uninsured. As part of the ordinance, AHCCCS also will be able to enroll up to an additional 33,000 children throughout Arizona. The plan was approved by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services earlier this year.