University Hospital has been awarded $182,203 in state grant funding to help enroll under- and uninsured New Jersey residents in Affordable Care Act health plans, the hospital announced Tuesday.
Hospital CEO Shereef Elnahal said the award will give the hospital the resources it needs.
“Access to affordable health insurance coverage has never been more important as we battle the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as this public health crisis has disproportionately impacted the uninsured in majority-minority communities,” he said.
The funding will pay for “navigators” to engage in outreach efforts and provide education and enrollment assistance to residents shopping for health insurance during the ACA open enrollment period from Nov. 1 to Jan. 31, 2021.
New Jersey was able to double the length of time for open enrollment since creating its own state-based marketplace exchange last year, Get Covered New Jersey. Previously, the federal government had managed the state’s exchange.
University Hospital is one of 11 organizations across New Jersey newly designated by the state to assist with health insurance enrollment. The navigators will be able to assist residents remotely during the COVID-19 public health emergency, aligning efforts and outreach with community partners prior to the start of open enrollment.
Other news from Tuesday:
Five more states on quarantine list
The state’s updated quarantine advisory includes five additional states from which visitors need to quarantine: Arizona, Minnesota, Nevada, Rhode Island and Wyoming. The increase brings the total to 35 states and territories.
The travel advisory applies to any person arriving from a state or territory with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents or a state with a 10% or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average.
The 35 states and territories include Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Health metrics
Gov. Phil Murphy announced there are 457 new positive cases, pushing the state’s cumulative total to 200,580. In addition, the state also is reporting seven new confirmed COVID-19 deaths, for a total of 14,285 lives lost. All seven of these deaths occurred in the past 12 days.
