Enrolling College Students In Health Insurance: Lessons From California (Part 1)

Abstract

Editor's note: As we approach the beginning of the second open enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act, Walter Zelman describes an effort he led during last year's initial open enrollment period to enroll students in the California State University system in coverage. Part 1 below provides background on the CSU system and the enrollment effort, the CSU Health Insurance Education Project, as well as a discussion of what went well. Part 2, which will appear tomorrow, addresses what did not go so well, as well as project results, lessons and policy implications, and next steps. In addition to Zelman, authors of this post include Wendy Lee, now in a Masters of Public Health Program at Johns Hopkins; Natasha Buransombati, now in a graduate program in Nursing and Public Health at the University of Seattle in Washington; and Carla Bracamonte, now in an MPH program at California State University, Fullerton. As CSU students, Lee and Buransombati served as regional coordinators for HIEP and Bracamonte served as a coordinator, CSU Los Angeles. The California State University (CSU) system is the largest public university system in the nation, as well as one of the most diverse. The CSU Health Insurance Education Project (HIEP) received a $1.25 million grant to educate students in the CSU system about the Affordable Care Act and health coverage options through California’s new marketplace, Covered California. A pre-open enrollment, multi-campus poll found that approximately 25-30 percent of CSU students were uninsured, primarily because they could not afford insurance. The project placed student educators on the CSU’s 15 largest campus. Over a seven-month period they gave approximately 1500 classroom presentations, and conducted 70 forums and 300 enrollment events. University administrators sent out over 1 million emails to CSU students. Project strategy emphasized a focus on affordability, the need for insurance (accidents happen), and the simplicity of the enrollment process.