CoxHealth awarded grant to ease exchange transition

The Missouri Foundation for Health awarded a 12-month, $350,000 grant to CoxHealth to help Ozarks residents enroll in the state's health insurance marketplace when it opens Oct. 1.

A component of the Affordable Care Act, health exchanges are designed to allow individuals, families and small businesses to purchase health insurance in an open-market format.

“More than 300,000 uninsured people in Missouri are eligible for subsidized insurance through the marketplace, many here in southwest Missouri,” said Katie Towns-Jeter, CoxHealth director of corporate and community health, in a news release. “We’re excited to be part of this program, to help these individuals get insurance and better, more affordable access to health care.”

CoxHealth will use the grant funding to hire and support five positions, who would perform outreach and education services about the health insurance marketplace, help people enroll and aid account changes.

The grant comes through the health foundation's Expanding Coverage Through Consumer Assistance Program and the Cover Missouri Coalition, an initiative designed to reduce Missouri's uninsured rate to less than 5 percent during the next five years. The current rate of uninsured residents under age 65 is 17.3 percent, the release said.