On February 15^th, 2015, EnrollSA/Get Bexar Covered wrapped up its second successful year of increasing healthcare coverage in San Antonio.

Let’s hit you with the numbers:

• This year, a total of 110,805 people enrolled in a health insurance plan in San Antonio, including both first-time enrollments and re-enrollments of people who enrolled in the first open enrollment period last year.
• We reached 2,860,639 people over four months with information about health insurance and local enrollment assistance, and approximately 5,000 people enrolled at EnrollSA events or received one-on-one assistance from the coalition members.
• In Texas, San Antonio placed third for number of enrollments, ahead of cities like Austin, El Paso and McAllen.
• According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), 86% of people who enroll in health care plans receive subsidies, meaning that the financial burden of health insurance has been reduced and gaining access to healthcare has become easier than ever.

Those might just look like a bunch of numbers, but SA2020 knows that they’re a huge reason to celebrate!

Access to healthcare is a fundamental ingredient to a strong community, and we know it’s important to our city because you said so in the vision back in 2010. Through the work of this coalition, 110,805 out of 212,323 of people in Bexar County who were eligible to enroll now have health insurance.

The work of EnrollSA, Get Bexar Covered supports the SA2020 goal of ensuring 86% of our community has health insurance coverage, and ultimately becoming one of the healthiest cities in the nation by providing assistance with the health insurance enrollment process. By increasing access to healthcare, we can increase opportunity, growth and vitality for our whole community.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), established back in March 2010, made it possible for many people to get insurance who previously could not afford it. For us, it’s not about the Politics of ACA. The Health Care Marketplace was and is an opportunity to improve health outcomes in our community, and that’s why SA2020 joined the EnrollSA/Get Bexar Covered coalition back in 2013.

The work of this coalition is two-fold. First, the coalition focuses on education about ACA – including eligibility, applications and deadlines. Second, the coalition members provide one-on-one enrollment assistance at large, public events and through appointments throughout the city.

EnrollSA, Get Bexar Covered has been a national example of the successful collaboration of many different community organizations, including grassroots nonprofits, hospitals, and local government.

SA2020 joined when we saw that an overarching message and communication strategy could help this coalition reach more people with streamlined information, and also strengthen the collaboration by helping different organizations share events and resources. As part of our effort to engage the public in the SA2020 vision, we stepped up to create this strategy.

By working together, the coalition was able to work strategically – targeting the most eligible populations to create the most impact and sharing data and resources to strengthen everyone’s efforts.

This year, the EnrollSA coalition targeted certain zip codes with high eligibility for coverage, and we’ve seen results in the numbers: these targeted zip codes had the highest number of enrollments in healthcare plans in the county.

By working together and sharing knowledge, the EnrollSA, Get Bexar Covered coalition has also been able to identify strategies to help people use their health coverage to make their lives better. Getting covered is an important first step, but many newly covered people may not be used to regularly seeing a doctor or getting preventative screenings. EnrollSA now sees the opportunity to use the campaign to increase awareness of the importance of receiving regular care, and ultimately improve long-term health outcomes for our residents.

As a coalition with a united campaign strategy, EnrollSA can work years into the future to help all eligible members of our community find the security, confidence, and peace of mind that comes with having healthcare coverage. And by working to improve the lives of people in our community, EnrollSA is making our whole city stronger.