Grass-roots efforts boost health care sign-ups in Florida

More than 1.3 million Floridians have obtained health-care coverage under the Affordable Care Act during the latest enrollment period, significantly surpassing last year's total, federal data released Wednesday shows.

The metro area encompassing Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach accounts for nearly half the total, but statistics from the Health and Human Services Department indicate a wide swath of sign-ups as well in Orlando, Tampa and other large metro areas.

As of mid-January, more than 57,500 residents of Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties had selected plans on the exchange, according to preliminary government figures. About 32,000 were in Lee. The three counties saw just under 40,000 enrollments after the sign-up period had ended last year.

Florida owes its enrollment success — nearly 20 percent of people who obtained insurance through the federal online marketplace, HealthCare.gov, live in the Sunshine State — to an aggressive and data-driven campaign by grass-roots activists and government-sponsored organizations to target hard-to-reach groups.

Since the current enrollment window opened Nov. 15, advocates of the health care law have blanketed the state with ads, held hundreds of community forums, and set up thousands of one-on-one meetings with prospective clients through online calendars. The enrollment period ends Feb. 15.

"We spent the better part of the year after the last open enrollment period (which ended in March) really getting out there on the ground and making sure we're getting information to as many folks as possible," said Jodi Ray, project director of Florida Covering Kids and Families.

Based at the University of South Florida, 150 federally sponsored "navigators" are leading sign-up efforts from Pensacola to Key West, using "heat maps" showing neighborhoods where enrollment is statistically low.

Enroll America, a privately funded nonprofit group operating in 11 key states, boasts about 2,000 volunteers working with hundreds of partners around the state to do similar outreach. The group will launch a bus tour Friday to highlight the drive, and it plans some 70 enrollment events in the final days sign-ups are possible.

In 2013, Florida had the second-highest rate of uninsured residents under 65 — 22 percent — behind only Texas.

Officials with Lee Memorial Health System, the region's largest hospital operator, believe the insurance mandate has had a measurable impact. Last year was the first time that its annual cost of providing free health care to low-income residents has decreased, officials said. That 2014 "charity care" amount was $46.9 million, about $1 million less than the previous year.

"One year does not make a trend, but it's a good sign," said health system spokeswoman Mary Briggs.

The percentage of patients with commercial insurance also ticked up slightly in 2014, halting years of sharp declines in patient coverage. About 21.4 percent of patients had private insurance last year, compared to 20.9 in 2013.

Lee Memorial counted 9,009 hospital and clinic patients with Affordable Care Act policies in 2014. Roughly a third of these patients had been previously uninsured, said Ben Spence, the health system's chief financial officer.

Those formerly uncovered patients provided the health system with about $6.3 million in payments. Spence said he was surprised by the figures.

"Just stopping the deterioration was what I expected to see," he said.

Still, the health system expects to see $22 million in reduced payments from government insurance in 2015, thanks to Affordable Care Act regulations and related cuts, he said.

Florida chose not to expand its Medicaid program to cover an additional 1 million low-income residents under the Affordable Care Act, citing concerns about federal cost and commitment.

In addition, Gov. Rick Scott, a staunch critic of the health care law, opted against setting up a state-based online marketplace to make health insurance available to people who aren't covered through an employer or a government program such as Medicaid. Florida is one of 37 states whose marketplace is either fully or partly run by HealthCare.gov.

Despite such opposition, Florida leads all other states in sign-ups on the federal marketplace through Jan. 30. Texas is a distant second with about 970,000 of the roughly 7.5 million enrollees nationwide, despite having a greater number of uninsured residents.

The health care law continues to face headwinds in Congress. The GOP-controlled House passed a bill Wednesday to repeal it, the 56th time Republicans have voted to scrap all or part of the law, according to Democrats.

Pamela Roshell, regional director for the Health and Human Services Department, said the latest enrollment figures should convince lawmakers to abandon their attacks.

"While Congress continues to vote on repealing this important law, today's report has a clear message: Millions of Americans and thousands of Floridians are counting on the Affordable Care Act," she said.

Connect with these reporters: Ledyard King at lking@gannett.com, Frank Gluck at @FrankGluck (Twitter)

Upcoming enrollment events in Southwest Florida

(Call 866-547-2793 for more information)

•Monday, Feb. 9, at Cape Coral Hospital, Cape Coral

•Tuesday, Feb. 10, at Physicians Regional Medical Center, Collier Boulevard, Naples

•Thursday, Feb. 12, at Bayfront Port Charlotte, Port Charlotte

•Friday, Feb. 13, at East County Library, Lehigh Acres