My must read of the day is "Kathleen Sebelius: The importance of health care navigators to Texas" in the Dallas News:
Just who are these people working to assist their fellow Texans? Those I’ve met are dedicated, civic-minded Americans who have opened their hearts to their neighbors, because they want to help.
Navigators and other assisters work to educate people about their new options. They’re not paid to sell insurance. Rather, they work to help people understand what financial help is available and to learn about their choices, so they can make good decisions for themselves and their families.
Navigators in Texas must complete at least 20 hours of training (including training on privacy protection and security), pass a rigorous exam, demonstrate they don’t have a conflict of interest, and participate in weekly training sessions.
Certified application counselors working at hospitals, community health centers, and social service agencies must also go through rigorous training before they can provide assistance to consumers.
More than 19,000 trained assisters, counselors, and navigators have worked with more than 450,000 Americans in their communities, to help them understand the options available under the new law.
Helping people obtain health coverage is not about politics, it’s about people.
This is more of an "incase you missed it."
Yesterday, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a field hearing on navigators, addressing who they are and what their role is. Apparently Sec. Sebelius was less than pleased with that and took the time to address it in a local paper.
Even if Sebelius is correct that this meeting is only being held to "stifle, intimidate, and impugn the reputation of people who have been working hard to help their fellow Texans get covered," she didn’t prove that or defend the navigators well.
There are no statistics about the navigator program in here. No data to stifle the very concerns Chairman Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) and Rep. Pete Sessions (R., Texas) are pointing to – she corrects one of their assertions, that navigators take a 5-20 hour course in order to be qualified. According to Sebelius, it’s 20 hours.
Navigators are "not paid to sell insurance," Sebelius declares, "they work to help people understand what financial help is available." Sort of, but they are not just working to "help people understand" because they’re kind – they’re paid for that. They’re paid to enroll people in the exchanges (reportedly, $58 per sign up). They may not have a stake in which plan individuals enroll in, but they are broadly selling insurance.
The idea that navigators should not be questioned is ridiculous. The navigator program costs taxpayers millions of dollars in each state, and by Sebelius’ own testimony there are no federal requirements for background checks – that statement alone is enough proof that there are major loopholes within an expensive program that handles the personal information of thousands, and it needs to be addressed. That’s the real issue, and it’s one Sebelius doesn’t explain in her op-ed.