Health Insurance Enrollment at VITA Sites

(Jan – March 2014 Only)

The Basic Idea:

From January to March 2014 offer health insurance enrollment assistance as a part of your Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) efforts.

How it works:

• Train VITA volunteers to be Certified Application Counselors (CACs) or identify CACs/Navigators to offer health insurance enrollment support at VITA sites.
• Provide tax clients assistance in completing the enrollment process including calculating modified adjusted gross income, fling status and dependency.
• Help families understand health insurance premiums, deductibles, co-payments, and summaries of plan benefits.
• Advise all tax clients that they may be subject to tax penalties in 2015 if they do not secure health insurance by March 31, 2014.

Who Does It:

• Nonprofit organizations
• Religious groups
• Service clubs

Pros:

• Families that are recipients of EITC/CTC tend to also be eligible for the expanded Medicaid program or premium tax credits. You have twice the impact by helping families enroll in both!
• It builds a community “buzz” which can help with other RuFES activities.

Cons:

• It’s new! You’ll need to find help.

Simplicity Index:

• A Mixed Bag of Fruits and Nuts. This should be relatively simple for existing VITA sites, but because it is new it may be difficult to cut through the rhetoric and find helpful resources.